The Boy With the Monkey Tail
by Vingilot the Sky Ship
Summary: The world of Remnant has survived a lot. Its people have endured the ceaseless tides of Grimm, globally spanning wars, and vicious acts of terrorism. But can they withstand the arrival of a saiyan?
1. Meeting the New Neighbors

**Chapter 1: Meeting the New Neighbors**

Mato awoke to find himself on fire.

A few seconds of frantic flailing later, he realized it was only his clothes and quickly ripped off the burning sections. He dropped the smoldering fabric into the loose dirt he was standing in. Looking around, he was in a crater, freshly dug by the smoking wreckage of his pod. Mato tsked at the remains of the space ship. It had shattered to pieces upon the impact of landing. _Of course it did._ He had been given a piece of junk, after all.

Come to think of it, it might have been lucky that he had begun to burn. A space pod's hibernation system ought to wake its occupant a little before landing, but Mato's pod hadn't. He had heard that sometimes pods would fail to break the induced slumber and leave its hapless passenger sleeping until they starved. Catching fire like that might very well have saved his life.

The realization that his life had reached a point where being on fire was a good thing made Mato's mouth curl into a scowl. To distract himself, he surveyed the area around him. There were trees lining the crater, he must have landed in a forest. The stench of the smoldering space pod was preventing him from getting a good smell of this new world's air, so he hoped to the lip of the crater to get clear of the smoke.

At least, that had been what he intended. Instead, he went soaring through the air, easily clearing the treeline. He jerked to a stop in midair, confused. He hadn't jumped with nearly that much force, was there something wrong with his body? But even if there was, from everything Mato had heard prolonged hibernation would only make the body weaker. To be stronger didn't make any sense. Unless… Mato folded his arms and thought deeply. He vaguely recalled some mention of gravity being weaker on other planets, but to this extent?

He drifted back to the crater, having to check his speed to keep from crashing. He landed lightly in a patch of open ground between the gouged out earth and the trees. His first course of action was clear. Whatever the reason for it, he had to correct the abnormalities in his movements before he could do anything else. He took a stance and began a set of strikes. It was ugly. His kicks flew off course from the unexpected speed they had, his punches left him off balance and stumbling. Mato grit his teeth and repeated the set. And again, and again, until his pace began to restore itself. Enheartened by his progress, Mato expanded his variety of techniques and pursued his hypothetical enemy into the air.

Mato "killed" his imaginary foe with a particularly powerful punch and hovered for a moment, grinning widely. His body felt so unbelievably light, it was like he had shed chains that had been binding him all his life. He was reaching speeds he'd never thought he could, not without years upon years of training. And, he inhaled deeply through his nose, this world's air smelled good. It wasn't like he had a world other than Planet Vegeta to compare it to, but he liked the smell of it. It smelled of untamed wildlands and fertile soil and deep water. There was a faint stench of something unpleasant, but what it was he couldn't quite determine.

That aside, he liked the smell of this place. He felt like it smelled like home, although now that he thought of it, he couldn't quite recall what Vegeta smelled like. _And I can never go back to check._

His previous good mood withered into bitterness. As if to reinforce his poor situation, his stomach began to growl. Right, Mato had heard of this, hibernation-hunger. Though the forced slumber slowed your metabolism to a crawl, it didn't stop outright like in genuine stasis. That was one reason proper hibernation systems woke the occupants before they arrived, to give them time to eat and regain their strength before landing.

Speaking of which… Mato descended back to the wreckage of his craft. There should have been some rations packed in with him. They'd taste like crap, but would have all the nutrients he needed to tide him over until he could get some real food. He rooted through the twisted, scarred metal, seeking the rations and anything else useful that might have been in the pod. He found a single ration bar, the rest ruined by dirt and fire, and nothing else of value. It's not like there'd be a scouter or anything, he told himself.

The bar was a good start, but three bites of food didn't come anywhere close to filling his empty belly. Luckily, he sniffed the air and wrinkled his nose, it seemed a meal was coming to him. Assuming he wanted to eat it, that is. The approaching stench was unmistakably the source of that foul undercurrent he had picked up earlier. He hopped back to the lip of the crater, landing where he intended to this time, to greet whatever it was.

They emerged from the shadows of the trees slowly, the pack fanning out to encircle him, though they didn't descend into the crater to fully surround him. They were unusual creatures, that was for sure. With their size and long limbs ending in claws they almost resembled vran, but with black fur instead of scales and odd bone protrusions jutting from their bodies. And the mask-like structures, which were oddest of all. However, like vran the biggest seemed to be in charge, standing at the back of the pack and growling what sounded like orders.

The growls stopped when Mato beheaded it with a kick. The not-vran's head went tumbling into the underbrush as the rest of the pack turned, oh so slowly. They hadn't even followed his movements at all, confirming Mato's tentative theory. A planet with weak gravity had weak inhabitants. Still, he couldn't fault their courage. Even with the alpha easily slain in front of them, they came on to devour him or die trying. As a reward, Mato decided to use a little extra power on them. He swept his hand out, raking the ground in front of him a wave of ki and obliterating both the beasts and trees in a wide crescent.

Mato sat down on the fallen corpse of the alpha and deliberated. Up close, the creature smelled even worse than it had from a distance, though strangely Mato still couldn't sniff out why other than that it was just plain foul. He couldn't decide to eat it regardless or to see if he could hunt down something more palatable. Another growl from his stomach decided it for him. He could always hunt down something else after he was more fed.

Mato reached down and easily ripped a limb free from the creature. He brought it to his mouth and after a moment of trepidation sank his teeth into the leg. He immediately spat it back out, almost gagging. That tasted awful, almost like it had rotted even as he bit into it. Looking closer, that might not be hyperbole. Around where he had bitten the limb was dissolving into thin air. A quick glance at the stumps of the severed leg and head confirmed this to be related to injury, though even the undamaged parts of the corpse were beginning to go.

So animals on this world dissolved when killed. That was going to make hunting difficult. It raised a number of questions too, like how could anyone eat meat here. Those not-vran had been clearing hunting him and had the teeth of carnivores, so there had to be some creatures here that could be consumed. Perhaps it was only that particular species that faded away, or maybe there was some special method of killing prey required to prevent the immediate decay.

Well, there was only one thing for it. He would have to find the natives. They would have food and, he glanced down at himself and grimaced, a change of clothes.

Mato rocketed from the ground, leaving his pod far behind. High in the sky, he spotted water in the distance. From its size, it looked to be a sea or ocean. Perfect. Mato flew towards it, the miles vanishing beneath him. Living beings required water and subsequently cities tended to be built on coasts. If he followed it long enough, chances were good he could spot some habitation below him.

After some time in the air, his hunch was confirmed. Below him was a sizable city, with plenty of people scurrying around like bugs from his vantage point in the sky. So there were sentient life forms on this mudball after all. Ones with at least some technology, he mused eyeing the buildings that reached into the sky with glittering facades of glass and metal. There were several enticing smells wafting up to him even this far up, so at least finding something to eat wouldn't be hard. He didn't have anything to buy food with, but he suspected that wasn't going to matter. With a feral grin he wondered if anyone down there could really stop him.

* * *

Velvet was enjoying a rare day off lounging and watching the passersby on the streets of Vale while waiting for her teammates. The four of them had agreed to all do their own thing, though Fox and Yatsu went off together somewhere, and meet back here in the square before going to see the new Spruce Willis movie together. Unlike Coco, Velvet's shopping had been rather brief, so for lack of anything better to do she decided to just go to the meeting point ahead of time and enjoy the fine weather. If she had any complaints, it would be that she had forgotten to bring her camera with her today.

All of the sudden her scroll buzzed, it was a message from Coco. Probably a change of plans or some new style she had just found that Velvet just needed to come check out.

It wasn't. "Meet me outside of Stevenson's, urgent." The curtness of the message more than anything else indicated its seriousness. If Velvet recalled correctly, Stevenson's was one of Coco's favorite clothing stores and not too far from where Velvet was now.

As she neared her destination, her path was obstructed by a police barricade. They were blocking off the road and a small crowd had gathered to see what was going on. Velvet could see that past the blockade was another one facing the other direction, with the two of them creating and open stretch of ground clear of bystanders. With a sinking feeling, she realized this blocked off area was centered on the entrance to Stevenson's.

Yatsu, towering over the officers manning the blockade, got her waved through with some murmured words in the man's ear. He led the way to Coco and Fox waiting on the opposite side of the street from Stevenson's. "What's going on?"

"There's been a robbery." Coco explained. "A Faunus with 'wild black hair and a tail coiled around his waist' stole some food from a nearby restaurant."

The rest of Team CFVY exchanged looks. That seemed a bit underwhelming for this sort of situation. "Is that really all that happened?" Yatsu asked.

Coco shook her head, her brow furrowing behind her shades. "It's more of how he did it. He walked into the place, shoved someone aside, ate from their plate, and repeated that five times. Anyone who tried to stop him got thrown aside or knocked out. Some police arrived on the scene and he beat them into unconsciousness with one blow each."

"Why would he do such a thing?" Yatsu asked in that slightly scary tone of voice he got when he was angry.

Coco shrugged. "Who knows? He wanted to eat without paying and didn't mind hurting people to do it. Anyway, the police have been following him from a distance and he went in there." Coco nodded at Stevenson's. "They were planning on calling in Huntsmen from Beacon, so I volunteered us."

"Then let's go." Yatsu concluded. His hand was already on the hilt of his sword as he began to walk forward. Coco bade him stop with an upraised hand.

"Hold it. There are still shoppers inside that could get dragged in if we start a fight carelessly. Whoever he is, his strength is clearly not ordinary; no doubt he has at least some huntsman training. We need to handle this carefully." Coco delivered orders quickly and concisely. "Yatsu, you and Fox will go in and confront him. Try to get him outside without alerting the other shoppers and getting them involved then Velvet and I will bring him down." It was only after the male duo departed that that Coco noticed. "Velvet, where's your case?"

"I left it at Beacon." Velvet admitted sheepishly. Yet another situation where she was found wanting. Those seemed to be happening more often than not lately.

Coco sighed. "Well, it shouldn't matter. Honestly, Yatsu and Fox ought to be able to handle this thief on their own. I'm just being a little overly cautious, I think."

Seeing Yatsuhashi flying backwards through the storefront, Velvet had to disagree.

* * *

Mato examined his new clothes in the shop's mirror. The people of this world may be weak, but they could make some good clothing. And the food, gods, he had never tasted such a variety of flavors in a single dish. And when he'd finished and resisted the urge to lick the plate clean the next plate he'd grabbed had been even more delicious. Really, not killing the idiots who'd tried to interrupt his meal was an amazing exercise in self-control.

Mato shook his head and returned to the task at hand. His new clothes. They weren't bad, certainly, it's just they weren't what he was looking for. This was the second shop he'd entered and neither of them had had clothing made for fighting. There weren't any training gi or jumpsuits, much less armor. Sure, he could still fight in what he was wearing, but they weren't ideal for that. The pants were made of some odd blueish material and the long shirt he has found seemed rather flimsy. Still, they would keep him warm when it was cold and not overheat him when it was hot, so he couldn't really complain.

"It's time you were leaving." A voice said. Unlike for the food, the people within this shop hadn't been harassing him. Most of them had been content to ignore him. This newcomer was different than the rest of the shoppers in a number of ways beyond just that. He stood tall and with the muscular build of a seasoned fighter, the man beside him with the unusual eyes having the same build. The large bladed weapons they carried were even more proof that these two were accustomed to battle. Still, they were irrelevant. Mato could tell even just by sight that they were vastly inferior to him.

Mato folded his arms as he regarded his reflection. The main problem with his new outfit was that it was just a little too large. Not so large that it was a big issue, but it was definitely noticeable. Well, it couldn't be helped really. The next smallest size started to impede his mobility, so he'd just have to make do with the poor fit for now. Later he could find something better.

"I said-" The big man put his hand on Mato's shoulder. This time, Mato's reaction was immediate. He spun and drove his foot into the man's stomach, sending him flying through the large window next to the shop's entrance. The man's companion swung his odd swords, but so slowly. Mato causally leaned out of their path and, arms still folded, knocked his legs out from underneath him with one kick and with another sent him flying to join his friend. As a kindness to the shop owner, Mato made a point of flinging him through the same hole that the larger man had made. Mato doubted that would be sufficient to put the two of them down, so he lightly hopped out of the shop to settle things. A fight would be just the thing to break his new clothes in.

Outside, the bustling city street was no longer bustling. A quick glance down the road showed the local law enforcement was keeping people from entering this area. They had been preparing for this encounter, it seemed. Mato wasn't sure how to feel about that. On the one hand, them taking special precautions showed they respected his power. On the other hand, them only sending these two chumps showed they didn't respect his power nearly enough. There were two women helping their, presumably, comrades off the ground but they were as weak as the two men.

Mato suddenly had an idea. It was a neat way to reinforce his superiority to the locals and it would make a fight as one sided as this actually somewhat interesting for him. He wouldn't unfold his arms, he'd defeat all four with just his legs. That should prove a reasonable handicap, not that it would do them any good.

The woman wearing the shaded lenses gave some quick orders and the team sprang into action. The big man approached from the front while the other man and the woman with the unusual ears split up to flank Mato's sides. The leader stayed in the back. _Only three on one? They're still underestimating me._ Mato let some ki trickle through his body, flowing out of his arms and down into his legs.

The big man struck first, with a sudden burst of speed to close and a massive overhand attack with his sword. Mato neatly sidestepped the blow and simply weathered the shockwave it created when it impacted the ground. The big man then slashed sideways, which Mato easily leapt over. Mato floated instead of falling and used the extra height to land a kick on the big man's head. There was something that felt off about the hit, however.

The other two rushed Mato at the same time. Their attacks were good, arranged so that evading them while remaining in the same spot would be impossible. So Mato didn't even try, and instead blocked the man's movements by stopping his wrist with one leg and kicking the woman away with the other. He brought his free leg around and caught the man under the chin, sending him flying as well. Again, his blows didn't feel like they were really connecting.

The big man was up again and charged with his sword. Losing interest in playing around, Mato simply concentrated more ki into his leg and stopped the weapon mid swing with his shin. He rose on the stunned fighter and hammered him into the ground with a kick that caught him between the shoulder and neck. Something flickered right as he connected. It almost looked like some kind of barrier. Perhaps that was why his attacks weren't feeling like they were landing properly, if the inhabitants of this world were using energy barriers. That would also explain why they were so weak, barriers could take a lot out of you depending on how strong they were.

When the other two tried to rush to their companion's side Mato was able to confirm his hypothesis with the kicks that dropped the two of them as well. They did indeed have some kind of invisible barrier that was shielding them from the bulk of the damage they took. However, that reduction had its limits and enough force could break the barrier itself into pieces. It would be a fairly safe assumption to believe all fighters on this world used that ability.

The three that had challenged him were staying down. Mato tsked, he hadn't hit _that_ hard. The sound of whirring metal caught his attention and he turned to see the last fighter's handbag transforming into a weapon roughly four times its size. Mato took a second to try to wrap his head around the violation of the laws of physics he had just witnessed while the barrel of the weapon slowly began to spin. Mato felt no danger; it was just another one of this world's weak projectile weapons.

The hail fire of death that spat out of the barrel proved him wrong.

In the safety of the air hundreds of meters above the ground, Mato unclenched his fists, now full of metal pellets. He had first intended to dodge each individual shot, but the rate of fire was too much for that. He had been forced to defend himself with his hands, and even that would have proven insufficient if he hadn't resorted to using the body flicker technique to evade. It was a rudimentary technique, just a simple trick for increasing movement speed pretty much every saiyan knew, but the fact that he had had to use it against this primitive irked him. Though not nearly as much as… he tapped a tear in his new shirt and his finger came away red.

Mato dropped like a rocket, landing so hard he kicked up a cloud of debris. Barely before the dust settled and the woman could spool up her weapon again he had driven his fist into her stomach. The power behind the blow was strong enough to sending her flying into one of the vehicles that comprised the barricade. The vehicle itself slid backward a meter or so from the force of the impact. Mato held his stance for a long moment, the battle haze slowly clearing from his mind. He shook his head to clear it.

The woman wasn't moving from within the twisted ball of metal he had slammed her into beyond the rise and fall of her chest. Her companions were likewise on the ground immobile. His battle won, Mato used body flicker again to leave the area, though to the eyes of the watching natives it probably looked as though he had simply vanished.

In an alley nearly a mile away, Mato chastised himself. The bullet had grazed him, nothing more. It had drawn about as much blood as a bug bite. Something like that making him lose his cool was a sign he lacked discipline. A little voice inside his head reprimanded him.

 _It was your own fault. You assumed they could not possibly match you and your arrogance cost you. Does that sound familiar?_

Mato growled in irritation but didn't argue. His father had always said the only person Mato couldn't argue with was himself.

Still, that weapon had taken him completely off guard. The rule of thumb in the greater galaxy was that blasters were better than the simpler, primitive solid-projectile weapons. Certainly, the weapons the lawmen on this planet paled in comparison to the blasters Mato had seen the rare times Trade Organization goons had come to Planet Vegeta. But that gun had been different.

It occurred to Mato he still knew almost nothing about this planet. Its name, what the natives were called, whether they were a part of the galactic community, and a number of other important questions needed answering if he was going to live here. And if they did turn out to be spacefaring, maybe he didn't need to live here.

Mato stood. It did no good to sit here speculating. There was only ever one way to get answers. You had to ask the questions.

* * *

The man in the suit walking down the street probably didn't expect for an alien magnitudes stronger than anyone else on the planet to appear before him, grab him by the waist and disappear moving at blinding speed up the side of the skyscraper they were in front of. Hopefully, Mato thought as he dropped the hapless passerby, he would consider this unexpected turn just part of the spice of life.

He didn't. Instead the older man was terrified, scuttling backwards until he ran into something solid, with eyes the size of plates. You could smell the fear rolling off him.

Mato sighed. Might as well get this over with. "What's this planet called?"

The man looked at him like he had grown another head. "W-what?"

Oh gods. "This planet. What. Is. It. Called."

"R-R-Remnant."

"Remnant, huh?" Mato said to himself, folding his arms. "A remnant of what?"

"What?" His unwilling informant asked.

"Nothing." Mato focused back on him. "What is the dominant species on this planet?"

"I…I…" His eyes danced around frantically, like he was trying to find a way to escape without showing he was. Mato's tolerance for his cowardice was waning fast.

"Your species! What is it!?"

"I- human." The man covered his head with his arms and cringed away from Mato. "Oh god, please don't kill me!"

Mato stared at him flabbergasted. _What the hell is wrong with him?_ It was just some simple questions. They were going to get nowhere like this. He let out a long breath. "What's your name?"

"Huh?" The man looked as though he was surprised to still be alive. "My name?"

"Yeah. What am I supposed to call you?"

There was a long pause. "Roy. Roy Akasha." He still looked fearful, but at least he had stopped trembling.

"Nice to meet you Roy. I'm Mato. Mato Z-" Mato began before he remembered. "Just Mato. Listen, I've had a very long and frustrating last couple days." That was putting it mildly, really. "Right now, I just need answers to some very simple questions. However, if getting those answers is gonna be like pulling teeth I'm liable to lose my patience and take my frustrations out on you. Got it?"

"Y-yeah, I got it." Odd, Roy looked calmer after Mato had threatened him than he had before. Humans it seemed were a strange bunch.

"Good. Now, do you humans have space flight capabilities?"

This time Roy answered quickly and without stammering, though he still looked surprised. "No, we do not."

Mato's mood soured. It was what he had expected, but even so… "Just to be sure, your species has no knowledge of life on other planets?"

"Well, we assume that there are some, but no, we've never proven it." Mato swore in the privacy of his mind. Of all the places he could have ended up, he had to land on a damned mudman planet. So, he's never going to be able to leave this world. He's stuck here, forever. Roy was looking at him funnily.

Mato focused on the present. There was still more he wanted to know. Unfortunately, Roy was decidedly not a fighter. Asking him about power levels and weaponry would probably just be a waste of time. "What kinds of animals on this planet are edible?" The food he had taken earlier had contained meat, so there were at least some creatures on this mudball that could be eaten.

"All of them?" Roy hazarded, sounding uncertain. "I mean, if you cooked them I would say you could eat pretty much anything."

"Hmm, then I don't suppose you know how to prepare the beasts with black fur and bone protrusions?" Mato asked offhandedly. Roy gaped at him.

"You- you mean Grimm?" Roy sounded incredulous.

"Black fur, white masks, red eyes?" Mato offered.

Roy shook his head stunned. "Grimm are monsters, made of pure evil. Of course you can't eat them."

 _Pure evil, huh?_ Primitives often concocted such legends about the monsters of their worlds. More likely these Grimm were simply aberrant life forms their science couldn't explain so they invented a mythology around them to fill the knowledge gap. Well, hyperbole or not, the fact that they weren't edible was clear. Still, from Roy's words it wouldn't be hard finding other things to eat.

Mato lost track of time as they talked on, Mato asking and Roy answering as the sun set behind him. He told Mato about this world's governments, the kingdoms that had divided civilization between themselves and the vast expanses of no man's land beyond their borders. He explained the 'dust' that served as vital fuel for all Remnant's technology and weaponry, explaining the minor mystery of that woman's weapon. That woman was apparently one of this planet's warriors, termed Huntsmen and Huntresses. Mato had had to suppress a patronizing smile at that. If that was what Remnant considered a warrior, they were in for a rude awakening someday.

The gloom of dusk began to lighten and Mato remembered a rather pressing question. "Do you know the lunar cycle? How long it is and when the next full moon would be?"

Roy had long since ceased to look surprised at Mato's questions. "I think it's four weeks long." He leaned around Mato to take a look. "It's not full now, but I'm not sure when the next full moon will be." If it wasn't full now, there was no harm in looking. All saiyans were intimately familiar with the phases of the moon; Mato might be able to work out how long he had on his own. He turned to see the moon behind him and gaped.

It was broken. The moon hung in the sky in pieces. How was that possible? Did some calamity tear it to pieces without disturbing its orbit, as impossible as that sounded? Would a moon like this even release Blutz waves? And if it didn't, would that be a problem? Transforming, and losing all sense and reason was dangerous, especially here on a world filled with potential enemies. Typically people were poorly disposed to rampaging monsters and felt inclined to act when that monster shrank into a much weaker state.

Mato had learned a great deal, his brain felt filled to bursting. Hypotheticals and plans danced around his head without pause. He had more questions to ask, but knew it would be worthless. Right now he needed to take a step back and digest what he had already learned. He stood. "Well Roy, it's been educational talking to you, but I've had my fill for the evening." Mato hopped into the air over the edge of the rooftop.

"Wait!" Mato slowly rose back until he was on Roy's level again. The man looked nervous, but determined. "You need to take me with you. I can't get down otherwise."

Mato compared the quietly resolute face before him with the gibbering wreck he had grabbed not even thirty minutes ago. Weak as they were, humans at least had some nerve. Mato wrapped an arm around Roy's waist. "Fine, but if you scream I'm dropping you."

Roy did scream a little on the way down, but he jammed a hand over his mouth so Mato accepted the good faith effort. After depositing the human safely on the ground, Mato raced back to the rooftops. His little performance in the street today made sticking around in the public eye not a great idea.

Back in the sanctuary height provided him, Mato considered his next move. As if on cue, his stomach started to growl.

* * *

AN: So this is the crossover I just had to make. It might be stupid, it might be great, we'll see.

A quick note about the DBZ aspects of this story. Remnant basically replaces Earth, so there's no chance of Goku or Krillin or them turning up. Otherwise, Frieza's empire, the namekians, kais, etc. are all around. The saiyans haven't been exterminated by Frieza either.

I'm really happy with Mato's name, it manages to fit both RWBY's color theme naming and the saiyans vegetable theme. Roy means red and his surname Akasha is a reference to the akashic records, which supposedly contain all knowledge. I thought that was fitting for a character who's only purpose was to be a walking info dump.


	2. Falling Into the Wrong Crowd

**Chapter 2: Falling Into the Wrong Crowd**

It was a bright and sunny day in the city of Vale, and Mato was fuming.

He had spent the night in an alley because he convinced himself it would be too much of a hassle to go all the way to the wilds when he was going to be coming back to the city the next day. Then he woke up to find the locals still trying to hunt him down, or someone else with 'wild black hair and a tail', preventing him from getting any breakfast without a boat load of extra trouble. He'd ended up heading back out to the wilds anyway, making a meal out of a brown, antlered beast he found in a copse of trees. And, truth be told, it had been a tasty creature, proving Remnant's great food wasn't just due to the skill of its chefs. It just hadn't been worth the extra hassle.

Mato wondered if he was making a mistake evading his hunters instead of taking them on. It would set a bad precedent if they thought they could push him around. But the fact that they were even still looking for him showed they were the sort to hold on to grudges around here. As fighters they were no threat, but their weapons were disproportionately powerful for their strength level. Until he had settled on a more long term living plan beyond just living hand to mouth, avoiding conflict would be wisest.

That wasn't to say he was hiding. He walked down the street openly; it's just that they weren't seeing him. It was rather fortunate that the physiology between saiyans and humans were so similar. The police were looking for a man with spiked black hair and a tail, so by tucking his tail under his shirt and tying his hair back Mato was basically invisible to them. People were people everywhere, even if they were mudmen. They don't see what they aren't expecting, and who would expect someone being hunted to walk causally down the road bold as brass?

At the moment Mato had a simple mission, to learn Remnant's lunar cycle and where it was in that cycle. To do that, he could ask random passerby until one was patient and knowledgeable enough to answer him or he could seek out a repository of knowledge and inquire there. Mato chose the latter, better to spend a little time for a guaranteed answer than potentially waste a lot more time with nothing to show for it.

He was walking past a window filled with books, which was a good sign. Mato stepped inside, a bell tinkling over the door to announce his arrival. The room he was in was quiet and the lights were dim. It created a sense of safety, like he was inside a cave. Books on shelves lined the walls and decorated several stands scattered around the room. There wasn't anyone inside with him, so Mato relieved the pressure on his scalp by slipping the tie he had fashioned out of some twine he had found in a trash bin off his hair, letting his spikes return to their natural shapes.

Still, he did need to talk to an actual person. These books weren't liable to tell him much. On a whim, he flipped one open and stared at the lines of script. Nothing. Well, not _nothing_ nothing. He could tell they used a character based form of writing and judging by the arrangement of the lines it was read left to right, but that didn't tell him anything about what was actually written there.

"Welcome to Tukson's Book Trade, home to every book under the sun." A man with impressive sideburns and a deep voice emerged from the back, who Mato assumed to be Tukson.

"I'm more interested in the moon." Mato replied evenly. "Do you have anything on the lunar cycle and where we are currently in it?" He'd almost said 'this planet's lunar cycle,' which probably would have prompted some annoying questions.

"There might be something over on the wall to your left." Tukson said, moving to reorganize a pile of books on the counter in front of him.

Mato smiled bitterly. This was going to be awkward. "I was hoping you could read it for me. I can't read." The admission hurt his pride, made worse when Tukson whipped his head around incredulously.

"What? You can't read…" He trailed off, staring intently at Mato. Recognition bloomed in his eyes. "It's you."

"It's me?" Mato could sense trouble approaching. He kicked himself for removing his 'disguise'.

"You're the guy from yesterday. The one who fought those huntsmen." Tukson appeared to be half afraid, half impressed.

"And if I am?" Mato's mind was already slipping into the steely focus of impending combat. His ki stirred awake, the power strengthening his limbs and sharpening his senses. He had to admit it was a bit ridiculous; Tukson looked as though Mato could kill him with a stern gaze.

Tukson could see the hard glint on Mato's eyes and held up his hands placatingly. "Whoa, hold on. We don't want to fight you, we just want to talk."

That didn't really reassure Mato, it just raised more questions. He asked the first one that came to mind. "We?"

Tukson began to answer, but was cut off by loud voices outside. The group didn't enter, just walked past the door chatting loudly, but Tukson still jumped and stared at them with wary eyes. "It's not safe to talk here." He strode over to the door, locked it, and flipped what Mato assumed to be an open/closed sign around. "Let's go in back." He led the way to the room he had emerged from. Mato weighed his options. He could just leave, but he was interested and this probably wasn't a trap.

"You didn't answer my question." Mato said as he joined Tukson in the back room. "Who are 'we'?"

"We're people who are sick and tired of being taken advantage of and oppressed." Tukson said cautiously, like he didn't want to give any more information than that. Suddenly, Mato understood. They were a disenfranchised group, they saw him handedly defeating fighters who serve the authority that keeps them down, and they wanted him to fight for their cause. Mato should have guessed from the start.

A large number of saiyans worked as freebooters and mercenaries. Many ran their own pirate or raider gangs out in the fringes of space, preying on undefended systems. The warriors' main source of work was squashing whatever new pocket of resistance the Trade Organization had found recently. Being paid to fight things was a cornerstone of the saiyan economy.

"And you want me to help make that stop." Mato folded his arms, trying to look stern. He'd never done mercenary work before, but he'd heard the trick was to put on a hard front. Seem too eager and you wouldn't get paid as much.

"Yes." Tukson nodded eagerly. "Will you join the fight?"

"I'm no crusader, but if I get a nice offer…" Mato said. Tukson's expression shifted ever so slightly. Had he genuinely thought Mato would freely mire himself in some petty human class conflict?

"Well, I can't promise you anything myself. I'll take you to our leader; he'll want to speak to you anyway." Tukson shifted awkwardly. "We'll have to wait until night, that's the only time he can be reached."

"My schedule's free." Mato said as he took a seat in the center of the room. He had been meaning to find some time to meditate anyway; he hadn't since he had arrived here. "Come get me when you're ready."

Tukson sputtered around the back room for a bit, moving piles of books here and there, and really just doing a poor job of masking that he was trying to keep an eye on Mato. It was a relief when he went back up front to reopen the store, Mato could finally concentrate. He wasn't really feeling like being introspective, so he simply worked on flowing his ki throughout his body in different concentrations. Eventually he started hovering above the floor to add a little difficulty. It didn't do much; even among saiyans, a race naturally gifted at controlling their ki, the ability to fly had always come easily to Mato.

The hours passed, and just as Mato started to get hungry again the sky had darkened. Tukson was back, having changed into an odd white and black outfit. "Follow me." He led the way out the back door, giving Mato a look at the emblem on the back of his shirt. A snarling beast's head, marred by claw marks. Not the logo of a group that talked first and fought second, Mato thought.

They crept, with annoying slowness, through the darkened streets. Tukson was a nervous one, constantly looking over his shoulder for pursuers. Mato just hoped they got there before his stomach collapsed into a singularity of hunger. From his brief exploration of the city, it seemed as though they were heading into the industrial areas of town. There were less people here, and more trash.

Finally, Tukson paused before the door of a dilapidated building. He slipped a hand into his pocket and pulled out an odd mask. It almost resembled the ones on those 'Grimm' Mato had encountered. Tukson took a deep breath and knocked on the door.

A slot in the door opened. A similarly masked face looked out at them. "Who's the runt?"

"A new recruit." Tukson answered tersely. Mato sniffed, getting the scent of the door keeper to repay that comment later. Besides him, there were a large number of people gathered within.

"Where's his mask?" The door keeper asked suspiciously.

Tukson sighed irritably. "I only have mine, not any spares. Now are you going to let us in or not?"

There was the sound of locks being unlocked. "Fine, but you'll have to answer to Adam." The door swung open, revealing a dimly lit hallway.

"He's here?" Tukson asked, sounding almost alarmed before he collected himself and led the way inside. "Good. He'll want to speak to the new guy."

"We'll see." The door keeper said ominously as he shut the door behind them. Tukson marched down the hallway sharply and turned around the corner to face another door. He paused for a second and gulped audibly. He was nervous, Mato realized. Nervous about bringing Mato here, or nervous about being here in general?

Before he could work it out, Tukson pushed open the door into a cavernous space. It was a warehouse, the place littered with storage containers and crates of all sizes. It was also full of people, all in the same uniform and mask as Tukson. As Mato and Tukson walked across the floor, the hum of activity and chatter slowly ceased. When the duo stopped in the center of the room, silence reigned.

A man in a black suit emerged from the crowd and approached them. He was a leader, Mato could tell. Aside from the fact that he was the only one not in uniform, he walked like a warrior did. Quickly and purposefully, but in no way rushing. It was the stride of someone who expected that any obstacles in his way would not be there by the time he reached them. This was Adam, no doubt.

Tukson kept his composure, but Mato could smell the fear on him. "I've brought him. The man we were looking for. He's willing to fight for us."

Adam somehow was able to look disdainfully at Tukson despite his face being mostly covered by a mask. "Is he?" His gaze shifted to Mato. "You know who we are." It wasn't a question.

Mato had absolutely no idea. "I know what they say about you." He said instead. "Though perhaps you'd like to give me your own opinion."

Adam scoffed. "Oh, I know what they say." He started to pace. "They say that the brothers and sisters of the White Fang are fanatics, dangerous radicals acting out of hate rather than a desire for equality. They mock and insult us for continuing the fight for true freedom from humanity's oppression while they settle for the scraps from humanity's tables. They enjoy the benefits of our struggles, while all the while wishing we didn't exist. But we aren't going anywhere, not until there isn't a single Faunus that is treated with anything but respect, no matter how hard we have to fight."

It was an impressive piece of oratory, Mato thought as the crowd surrounding them broke into cheers. And an informative one. So they were members of a subspecies of humanity that had been mistreated, either in truth or just in appearance, and were willing to fight against humanity as a whole to correct that. And not all 'Faunus' shared in this viewpoint. That was fine; more enemies meant more fighting he could get paid for.

"Are you ready to join the fight?" Adam asked as the cheers died down.

Mato folded his arms. "That depends on what I'm offered."

The atmosphere got noticeably tenser. "You think to profit from our struggles?" Adam's voice was tight.

Mato nodded. "I could care less about your little human conflict, but I'm out of work at the moment and fighting is my specialty. For the right sum, I'll happily crush your enemies for you."

It's amazing how a silence could convey detailed information at times. The current silence was one of everyone in the room restraining themselves from trying to murder him in a frenzy. Mato might have been a bit too blunt. One man had less restraint than the rest. He was a big fellow with a mask that covered his entire face, pushing his way through to the front of the crowd.

"We don't need trash like this fighting for us. Scum that think they can waltz in here and make demands are no better than humans." A chorus of assent rose from the onlookers. Tukson appeared to be surreptitiously stepping away from Mato. But Mato wasn't too worried. All he needed to do now was put on a show.

"Is that so?" The crowd quieted to hear his words. Mato had intentionally spoken at conversational level to catch their attention. "I was under the impression you could use all the power you could get your hands on."

"We don't need any weak power _you_ could give." The belligerent man replied. Mato had to keep from laughing. He couldn't have set himself up better if he had tried.

"Really? Then how about a little wager?" Mato held up a finger, playing his part perfectly. "We fight. If you win, I'll fight your little war for you freely and without complaint."

"And if you win?" Adam asked. He was interested, Mato could tell.

Mato shrugged. "If I win, then you can just consider that my audition. After I show you firsthand my power, I have no doubt you'll be willing to shell out the cash."

"Heh. Fine by me." The big man stepped forward, hoisting yet another of this planet's unusual weapons. It resembled like a sword, but the blade was in tiny pieces rather than a solid edge and there was a handle part of the way down the blade. The hilt also looked overbuilt, probably hiding some machinery or trick. Mato reminded himself to be careful.

"Tukson, you'd better get back." Tukson heeded his advice and Adam made a significantly less hurried departure, leaving Mato and his enemy alone on the floor. It wasn't just the weapon and any tricks it might have, after his boasting Mato couldn't allow even the slightest injury or misstep or the crowd would jump on it. He had to win by an overwhelming margin to keep the façade he was trying to sell them going. But how to do that? Hungry as he was, pulling out all of his power would be difficult. That would make winning through raw power risky, if he was even a smudge too slow or weak his enemy could get in a lucky shot. That left him with winning on skill. That shouldn't be too hard.

"Crush him Bruno!"

"Kick his ass!"

"Demolish him!"

The peanut gallery was having a good time, at least. Bruno did something to his 'sword' and it roared. Looking closer, Mato could see those little blades on it were attached to a track and the track was rotating the length of the blade, producing a sawing effect. A dangerous modification, but only if Bruno could connect with his weapon. Mato just needed to not let that happen.

"Just you, huh? I'd meant I'd fight all of you, but I guess you'll be a decent punching bag."

Bruno snarled at the insult and charged. He swung his weapon in a horizontal arc that would have torn Mato's torso in half. Instead of allowing that, Mato leaned back so the whirring blades would pass over his head. Bracing himself with a hand on the floor, he kicked up at the sword as it passed over him. The kick blew the weapon upward and threw Bruno off balance. Mato nimbly spun to his feet and drove an elbow into Bruno's gut. The force behind the blow was enough to send him flying into a crate on the edge of the circle of people, smashing it to pieces.

The crowd had gone silent. Mato straightened up from his stance, smirking. He'd done damage, but he didn't think that would be nearly enough. Sure enough, Bruno was on his feet and rushing back into the fray within seconds. This time, Mato let him attack without pause, dodging every strike. When a particularly strong downward slash buried the sword into the ground, Mato lashed out with a kick. Bruno went flying backward, into a crate next to the first one. In a bit of pure showboating, Mato used his foot to free Bruno's weapon from the floor and flip it over to him.

Even with his face hidden, it was quite clear Bruno was seething. He scooped up his weapon and leapt into the air. Just what Mato had been waiting for. An attack with all his strength behind it. Mato drew his ki up into his forearm. The sword descended like a bolt of lightning and Mato caught it barehanded. His fingers formed a pincer that caught the weapon by its flat, the rotating blades kept from his palm by nothing but the strength of Mato's fingers.

Bruno tried to yank his weapon free, with increasing urgency as his efforts had no effect. Mato's arm didn't even budge. This was the money moment for him. His foe's strong suit was physical force; to overpower him so blatantly would be resounding proof of his abilities to the watchers.

Speaking of which… Mato, still holding the sword in a death grip, turned to find Adam's face in the crowd. "Have I proven myself yet? Or do I need to start really hurting your friend here?"

Adam's mouth was a hard line. "Bruno, that's enough." Instantly, the struggles to free his weapon from Mato's grip ceased. Mato was impressed. That was some serious obedience Adam could inspire. Adam nodded at the two of them. "Both of you come with me. The rest of you, get back to work." And like that, the circle of gawkers was disbanded.

Mato followed Adam to a side room off the warehouse floor, being sure to let Bruno go ahead of him. Mato couldn't be sure, but he seemed the sort to cut down a man after the battle was over because he was on the losing end. Inside the cramped office, Adam settled behind a desk strewn with what looked like maps while Bruno loomed over his shoulder.

"You've proven you're strong." Adam said without preamble. "And you were right when you said we need power. The White Fang may be the strongest it's been in years, but it's still not strong enough. Not for the plans we have."

"Then you shouldn't have made me go through all that trouble to fight for you." Mato replied. "Still, I trust my audition was satisfactory?"

"It was." Adam steepled his fingers. "So what do you want in exchange for your help?"

"At the moment, nothing." That surprised the two of them. "Currently I am in need of food and lodging. Provide those for me, and I will consider my first outing on your behalf already paid for. After you've seen me in action, we can discuss what would be appropriate compensation for my services." Mato thought they were buying it. In reality, he wanted some time to get an understanding of Remnant's currency, so he didn't end up asking for a pathetically small or ludicrously large amount of money.

"Awful generous of you." Bruno muttered, clearly suspicious.

"A man must work." Mato recited the familiar idiom while shrugging. "I am not so shameless as to demand payment before providing my end of the arrangement."

"Is that so?" Adam shifted some of the papers on his desk. "We have several camps beyond the kingdom's borders that have come under increasing Grimm attack. A team is departing from this location to one such camp tonight. I'd like you to go with them." He glanced back at Bruno. "Take him to Perry, then finalize the men for tomorrow's heist."

"Yes sir." Bruno walked over to the door. "Follow me." Bruno led him back out into the warehouse floor and over to another White Fang member, this one amusingly wearing glasses over his mask. "Got one more for your group, Perry." Without another word, Bruno turned on his heel and was gone.

Perry looked Mato over. "So you're with us, huh? I can't say I don't want you, anyone that can fight worth half a damn would be useful right now."

Mato was spared having to respond by someone else speaking. "Hello Perry! You wouldn't happen to know where the men I was promised are, would you?"

The speaker was a man with bright orange hair hidden by a round cap. Mato noted the fineness of his clothes, the way he swaggered as he walked.

"Torchwick." Perry said evenly. "You were promised men for tomorrow night, not tonight."

"Time waits for no man Perry and neither does crime." Torchwick replied glibly. "The situation's changed, I need the men now."

Perry shook his head. "Go talk to Bruno; he was putting the teams together. I have more important things to do than drop everything to hold your hand."

Torchwick held up his hands mock-defensively. "Whoa, easy there Perry. No need to bite my head off, I know where to go." He sauntered off, chuckling.

Perry sighed explosively when he was gone. "That man's a great asset to our cause, but he really rubs me wrong. Whatever." He turned back to Mato. "I saw the video of you fighting; you can fly, can't you?"

Mato answered by lightly floating a foot off the floor. Perry smiled. "Then I have something you could do. My team is heading out to the camp shortly, but because we need to stay out of sight it takes almost two days to get there. That might not be fast enough. I want you to fly there directly to make sure everything is okay there."

"As long as there's a meal at the other end of that flight, that's fine with me." Mato said.

Perry shrugged. "I'm sure they can throw something together for you once you're there." He pulled out a small device from his pocket and tapped its interface a few times. "When you arrive, tell the camp commander 'sheathed claws are sharper'. That will prove you're with us." He finished his tapping and held up the device. The screen was showing an arrow, with some writing below it. "This will point you to the camp, just follow the arrow."

Mato took it and experimentally turned around. The arrow turned with him, keeping its original direction. "Handy. Anything else?"

It was tough to read someone wearing a mask, so Mato wasn't sure what the odd expression on Perry's face could mean. "You- It's nothing." He visibly composed himself. "Might as well get going, the sooner you get there the sooner you get that meal of yours."

Mato nodded his farewell and headed for the exit. He nodded at the door keeper as he unbolted the door and opened it. Walking past, Mato threw a punch faster than the other man's eye could track right into his gut, making him stagger backwards. "You okay?" Mato asked, all concerned.

The doorman rubbed his stomach. "Yeah, I'm fine. Wonder what that was?"

"Who knows?" Mato left him to try to work it out on his own. Once outside, he shot skyward until the lights of the city turned to dots beneath him. The wind gently ruffled his hair as he confirmed his heading on the little device. It was a beautiful night, he had something new to keep him busy for at least a few weeks and a quick flight ahead of him with food waiting at the end. Mato was beginning to not hate being on Remnant.

* * *

 **AN:** Mato is too much of an impressionable youth to be hanging out with such a bad bunch. They'll be such a negative influence on him, he might even start committing crimes! On a more serious note, he hasn't yet realized why they think a guy with a tail ought to care about what happens to faunus.

Yes, Bruno is Banesaw. Mainly because the character doesn't have a real name and I can hardly have his colleagues call him that. Bruno means brown, kinda like his tanned skin, and he has some similarities to the Pokemon Bruno.

 **Review Responses:** metalgear870: While what we eat are indeed the fruit of the tomato plant, those are still considered vegetables from a cooking standpoint. Much like how broccoli is properly a flower and carrots are properly a root, the 'vegetable' classification really only exists on the culinary level.

Jackalope89: Well, as of this chapter we can safely say that this takes place before the start of volume 2 and after Cinder conscripted the White Fang. I want to say Roman's heist that night is the one Blake and Sun crashes, but it might screw up the timeline a bit (I haven't worked out all the details yet) so I won't commit to that yet.

helkil: I wanna bring in some female saiyans too, since they are pretty underrepresented in DBZ works. Problem is that Mato's whole stranded arc doesn't really work if there are other saiyans around, so it might be a while before we see any.

epikphael: Thanks for the praise! It took me a long time to get a name for Mato, but when I thought of it it fit so perfectly I had to use it. As for capitalization, since we're reading from Mato's perspective he doesn't capitalize the name of his species the same way I wouldn't capitalize "humans".

GotenGT: While I'm not saying romance isn't going to happen, those two pairings are unlikely considering he's joined Blake's friends-turned-enemies and Velvet's only interaction with him was him beating her and her friends up.

shadows being: I hope it grows on you, things are going to pick pretty quickly.

Thanks for all the feedback, and I'll see you guys next time On Dragon Ball RWBY! _Guitar riff._


	3. A Midlife Crisis at Age 16

**Chapter 3: A Midlife Crisis at Age 16**

The Deathstalker twitched as it died. Mato yanked his foot free from its carapace, shaking it to dislodge the fading fragments of the Grimm's bones. He sniffed the air for a scent and found it. He sprang off the corpse and raced through the trees, following the stench. As he got closer, he heard gunfire and growls.

Mato burst from the trees to find a trio of White Fang trying and failing to gun down and Ursa as it charged them. Though to be fair, it _was_ a big Ursa. Big enough that when Mato body flickered in front of it and drove his fist into its stomach, the creature was actually able to stay conscious. Mato had to finish it with a second punch embedding its head in the ground.

"Thanks!" One of the trio called. "We really-" Mato cut him off with a raised hand. He took another deep breath through his nose. There was still the smell of Grimm nearby. He was about to smell again to try to sniff out where when the Nevermore flew overhead, shrieking. Mato shot into the sky after it. The Grimm's eyes widened as he appeared in front of it, the fingers on his left hand forming a blade.

"Goshigan." Mato drilled the overgrown bird between the eyes. Its body vanished immediately, a sign he had destroyed the brain. The irony of using a modified version of the classic Shigan bullet punch, used by saiyans almost exclusively for killing prey without overtly damaging their bodies, to kill a creature that couldn't be eaten wasn't lost on him. He didn't think there were any more, but just to be on the safe side he sniffed one last time. Nothing.

He dropped back down to earth. The trio rushed over to him as he landed. The short one spoke first. "Boy, do we owe you one."

"You came out of nowhere!" The lanky one with antlers said.

"How did you know where we were?" The one without any easy identifying features asked.

The true answer, that Mato had no idea they were there, probably wouldn't go over very well. "I followed my nose." Mato said instead, tapping it. One thing he'd learned over the week he'd spent fighting for the White Fang was that a human's sense of smell was terrible. They couldn't even pick up things as pungent as the Grimm, as hard as that was to believe. Mato hadn't lied about how he could track Grimm with unerring accuracy; he had told them the truth every time he was asked. He may have been telling the truth in a way that seemed like he was lying, though.

"Head back to camp." He told them. "The Grimm have already been cleared out." Fuchsia had been insisting on continuing to send her patrols out to counter the Grimm incursions, despite Mato's presence making them entirely superfluous.

"Yes sir!" They trio trooped off with Mato frowning after them. That was another annoying thing; the White Fang grunts had rapidly assumed Mato was one of their number. His clothes, he noted irritated, were probably not helping. Perry had successfully badgered him into donning the standard White Fang white vest, black pants, and armguards. Mato had agreed mainly to get him to shut up, though he hadn't budged on the mask. His excuse, that he wanted his enemies to remember his face, had been just reasonable enough that Perry, also sick of arguing by then, had let it go.

In Beta Camp, where Mato had been first, the wardrobe change hadn't been a problem. The White Fang knew where they stood, humans he was fighting for for profit. It was after he came here to Gamma Camp that people started to mistake him. It was amazing. You save maybe a dozen people from slavering, homicidal monsters and suddenly everyone thinks you're a hero of the revolution. Fuchsia was one of the few left who retained her sense. Good thing too, she was the one paying him.

Mato fished the cards out of his pocket. Naturally, he was getting paid with this planet's currency, Lien. Each of the cards being a different color and being able to observe a game of cards between the grunts had given him a rough understanding of which were high value and which were low. That in turn helped him with being able to read Remnant's numbers at least. Now if he had to break from the White Fang, he could at least buy a meal instead of having to take it. It's the little things in life, Mato mused as he regarded the forest. He'd give it one more sweep just to be sure then head in.

Later, after raiding the mess tent for his usual double helping of rations, Mato was sitting in the branches of a tree on the edge of camp. He sighed. It was barely midday and he had nothing to do. That was becoming a recurring problem here on Remnant. Back home, he worked the farm, when needed, hunted in the mountains, and on occasion went into to town to trade crops for whatever they needed around the house. And more than anything else, he trained. Honing his body and developing his techniques had tended to take up the bulk of each day for Mato.

But what was there to train for now? He was already the strongest being on the planet and it wasn't like he was going to get another chance at the trials. There just wasn't any point in getting any stronger than he was now and it's not like he had ever really been interested in training for its own sake. So what was he going to do now? Sure, his deal with the White Fang had gotten him food, lodging, and money. That was all he needed to live, but what was he living for? Was this going to be all there was for the rest of his life?

Mato thumped his head back against the trunk and closed his eyes. He was too young to be thinking about heavy shit like that. For now, he'd take a nap and if there was daylight left when he woke up he'd go hunt down some more Grimm. He'd have to range a bit afield, but he could find them. Though, at this rate he'd have hunted the Grimm to extinction before year's end. Minor existential crisis averted, he started to drift off to sleep.

"Mato!" _Every damn time._ Mato thought as he cracked his eyes open. He leaned over to look down at Fuchsia. The dark haired woman had her hands on her hips. "The boss wants to see you! Over at the command tent!"

"Got it!" Mato called back, waving lazily. Fuchsia marched off. Perry was here already? When Mato left Beta Camp four days ago he said he wasn't going to be coming to Gamma for a week. Mato sprang off the branch and controlled his descent so he landed at the command tent's door. Perry was inside but not by himself.

"Ah, familiar faces. So to speak." Bruno and Adam looked up from their conversation.

"Funny." Perry commented, standing near the back of the tent with his arms folded.

Adam waved him into silence. "I hear you've been doing well exterminating the Grimm."

"Mostly. They've been thinned out around the camp itself, I was planning on expanding that radius some more though." Mato explained.

Adam shook his head. "Don't bother. Our… partner," and there was a great deal of emotion loaded into that word, "wants there to be a certain amount of Grimm near the city for the sake of our plans. As long as our camps aren't under threat of attack, we are to leave the Grimm be."

Mato folded his arms. "Then what would you have me do? I'm not hanging around if you're going to stop paying me to fight."

Adam frowned. "You'll get your money, mercenary." It was amusing how he tried to turn the word into an insult. "Don't think I don't share my comrade here's distaste for you trying to turn a profit from our fight. I would much rather lop your head off where you stand than give you a single cent more."

Mato noted Adam's hands were on his sword as he spoke and unfolded his arms just as a precaution. "If you hate me so much, why hire me in the first place?"

Adam sighed, his anger draining away. He looked Mato in the eye, as much as he could with that mask on. "Because we need you. Do you know anything about our new partner?"

"Just the rumors. A mysterious woman appeared out of nowhere and is giving you everything you need. People are divided on whether it's a trap, divine providence, or a divinely inspired trap." That last one was unlikely; it wasn't really the gods' style.

Adam hmphed. "Mostly true. Cinder did come to us out of the blue and we don't really know her motivations." His face hardened. "What they missed is that she forced us to work with her."

"How?" The White Fang's structure, as far as Mato had bothered to understand it, was fairly loose and disorganized. Everyone within it was more or less expendable for the sake of the greater goals, a rare case of pragmatism born out of fanaticism.

Adam didn't answer right away, gritting his teeth at what were apparently painful memories. Perry took it upon himself to fill the silence. "She assaulted Alpha Camp, our strongest concentration of fighters at the time, and brought it to its knees."

"She has power." Adam said. "Power we can't match."

"But you think I can." Mato could tell where this was going. "So you're willing to put up with me until I get rid of her for you. You should have just said so from the beginning. I'd have already killed her by now."

"It's too soon." Adam said. "Though she has seized control, her interests and ours do align for the moment. The plans she's working out will aid our cause. I'm just not enough of a fool to think that once we've outlived our usefulness she'll continue to support us. And when that time comes, she'll have outlived _her_ usefulness."

"So it's a race to see who betrays who first." Mato summed up. "You didn't answer my question though. If you don't want me killing the Grimm or this Cinder, what do you want?"

Adam looked down at the diagram of the city on the table in front of him. "Vale is where everything is coming together. I want you there for a few reasons." He looked back up at Mato. "First, as insurance in case anything unexpected happens and we find ourselves in need of your strength. Second, it will put you close to Cinder and her lackeys. I want you to watch them, learn what you can about their skills, and be ready in case their betrayal comes sooner than expected."

Well, it wasn't like Mato had pressing business elsewhere. "Fine with me. When are we going?"

"You will be accompanying Bruno, Perry, and some of our other key operatives on a flight to Vale tonight. I'll be staying here to pick up the slack."

"Farming by the light of your ki eh?" Mato was too preoccupied to catch the confused looks they gave him. He had just remembered. "I can't go tonight; I have something I need to do."

"What?" Perry asked.

"Something personal, private, and important." Mato answered. "It's something I'm not willing to budge on, so you can either delay the flight or have me join you the next day, either is fine by me."

Perry was about to protest but Adam stopped him with a glance. "Fine. Come see me tomorrow morning, I'll give you new orders. Are there any other days you want off in advance?" He asked sardonically.

"I'll think about it and let you know." Mato knew exactly when already, but it wouldn't hurt to keep his cards close to his chest. "Was there anything else you wanted?"

"No." Adam waved him towards the exit. "You can go."

Mato's pride bristled a little at the dismissal, but treating this human like his words actually mattered would have been even more a blow to his dignity so Mato just left. Now that he remembered, he had some preparations to do. He took off over the forest, flying low.

The sun was low in the sky by the time he finished. Going back to the camp would be cutting it close, good thing he had already brought down a deer for dinner. Mato made a quick trip down the hill to the stream, drinking deeply. He hadn't thought ahead to bring anything to carry the water in, so this was going to have to last him the night. Climbing back up, he threw the deer carcass into the hole he had gouged out of the hillside. He cautiously picked up the boulder he had dug from the earth, careful not to break the rock several times his size. He backed into the makeshift cave and set the stone down, blocking the entrance aside from a small space near the ground where he could monitor the light levels.

Mato looked around the dark, cramped hole with distaste. It was a poor excuse for a lunar shelter, but with night falling in minutes he didn't have any better options. He settled in the dirt next to his dinner and prepared to wait out the full moon.

* * *

Mato stood on the cliff, waiting. And waiting, and waiting. "How about now?"

"Still no." Fuchsia said, staring at her scroll. Mato was beginning to get sick of this.

"That's it, I'm going."

"No!" Fuchsia grabbed his arm, as if she expected that to do anything. "We need to wait until it passes out of contact before we go or they'll call for backup."

"Who cares?" Mato was tired of this needless skulking about. "We'll be gone before any help could get here."

"But that distress call will tell them that _we_ are the ones taking it." Fuchsia pointed out. Mato grumbled. That was true, but his experiences as a hunter told him to not ignore prey within his reach, lest it suddenly slip out of his reach before he could take it.

But instead he waited some more, while the wind howled around the precipice they stood on. When he had returned that morning and been given this assignment by Adam, Mato had been expecting something a bit more impressive.

" _This might be one of the most important missions you do for us."_

" _Really? It's that critical?"_

" _Yes. Your success today could finally tip the balance of power in our fight in our favor."_

Instead, Mato had flown Fuchsia to this godsforsaken hunk of rock and spent several hours standing around with his thumbs up his ass. Some important mission. And what was coming wasn't much better.

"Okay, it's time." Fuchsia said a minute later, pocketing her scroll.

"Finally." Mato wrapped an arm around her waist and lifted the woman over his shoulder easily. She had objected to being carried like that on the flight here, but for this one Mato was going to need a hand free.

From her position near the middle of Mato's back Fuchsia was giving orders. "Be sure to be careful entering, we don't want to damage the cargo."

"I know."

"And don't be too rough subduing the crew, you might damage the controls."

"I _know._ "

"And- uuuwwaaa!" Mato shut her up by shooting up into the air towards the airship. He drew up alongside it until he found a door marked with the emblem of a spear within a circle. Mato drew back his hand and pointed his index and middle fingers.

"Nishigan." His fingers punched deep into the metal. Mato flexed and twisted them and ripped the door open. He darted inside against the outrush of air pressure. There were four armed robots within, two against the wall leading to the cockpit to his left and two on the far wall to the cargo bay to his right. They all raised their guns to point at the intruders in creepy unison.

"Identi-" One began, before it could finish Mato had already dropped Fuchsia, crossed the cabin, and buried his foot in its head. The other one was turning when he sheared it in half with a kick. The two near the cockpit fired. Mato twisted around the first two shots, deflected the second two with a sweep of his hand, and caved in their chests before they could fire a third time.

"What the hell?" The door to the cockpit had opened, revealing one of the armored pilots. He stared at the downed robots, Mato and Fuchsia, and reached for his gun. Mato kicked him against the wall to put him down. The other pilot tapped a button on the controls and rose, pulling his own gun free. Mato bent over backwards to dodge the shot and crushed the gun before there were any others. Conscious of the need to preserve the controls, he threw the pilot over his shoulder back out into the compartment. The man was scrambling to his feet when Mato drove a knee into his stomach, knocking him out. The third and final crewmember entered from the cargo bay. He leveled his gun and fired.

Mato had to body flicker in front of Fuchsia to get there in time to deflect the shot. His enemy looked taken aback, but recovered his composure quickly and continued firing. Mato almost lazily deflected each shot with his right hand, his eyes never leaving the man's visor. Eventually, pulling the trigger only resulted in a clicking noise. The crewmember threw down the weapon and raised his fists. He was a brave man. Mato respected that courage by treating him seriously and floored him with a punch.

"You can stop cowering now." Mato said dryly to Fuchsia, who was only just now getting to her feet. She ignored the comment and went into the cockpit, settling into one of the chairs.

"Right, now it's my turn." She said, more to herself than Mato, who suddenly was having second thoughts.

"Are you sure you know how to fly this thing?"

"'Course I'm sure." Fuchsia pressed a button and the entire craft lurched. "I meant to do that."

"Right." Mato leaned against the back wall of the cockpit and folded his arms. Fuchsia glanced back at him.

"Why don't you take care of the crew?"

Mato's smile faded. They had discussed 'taking care' of the crewmen earlier, and he didn't like it. Stealing this ship and everything in it was just his right as a being stronger than those trying to keep it. The three of them had in turn fought back to the best of their abilities, proving their courage. The honorable thing to do was to let them go on their way after taking what the White Fang needed from them. Adam had insisted they be killed instead. Humans had not even the slightest respect for basic civility at times. And yet, having accepted payment from Adam for this task, Mato was honor bound to comply with his instructions, within reason.

Mato left the cockpit and regarded the fallen bodies, thinking. He eyed the still open door and made his decision. A quick bit of scrounging found some packs filled with food and other survival supplies, likely in the event of a crash. Mato piled them and the weapons from the robots on top of the unconscious bodies, scooped up the entire pile, and jumped out of the ship. One of the rifles slipped loose and plummeted to earth, but there was still one for each of them.

He left them atop a moderately large rock and returned to the ship. They were in no position to report on Mato's actions and if they lived or died was in their own hands.

"Where'd you go?" Fuchsia asked him suspiciously when he reentered the airship.

"I was taking care of the crew, just like you asked." Mato said. He was getting rather practiced at the art of half-truths.

"Good, go get a count on the cargo next. And maybe after that find a way to shut that door."

Mato repressed the urge to kick her through the control panel and take off laughing. He hadn't considered that being a mercenary would involve taking so many orders from lesser beings. Maybe he ought to seize control of the group sooner rather than later. He tapped the open button and walked through the door into the cargo bay, and surveyed it from the balcony. Mato didn't really care, but he suspected a human would have found the rows of hulking battle suits to be an impressive sight.

Hours later, the airship coasted to a landing in a clearing not too far from Vale. Awaiting them there was Bruno, Perry, and around two score other White Fang. As soon as the ship had touched down they swarmed over it like ants, quickly prying open the cargo bay loading doors and beginning to offload the mechs. Mato and Fuchsia were approached by Bruno while Perry oversaw the work.

"Did everything go well?" Bruno asked, clearly directed at Fuchsia. Mato answered anyway.

"Of course it went well, I was there."

Bruno somehow managed to convey he was rolling his eyes despite the mask. Fuchsia remained the professional out of the three of them. "What should we do with the ship? Taking it wasn't the original plan."

"Scrap it." A sibilant female voice said. "We have no need for it, and it will only draw attention." The speaker was a woman, approaching while flanked by a pair of lackeys. To her left was a man with silver hair and a grin that screamed cockiness, to her right a woman with red eyes. Mato had to resist the urge to flinch away, he was pretty sure the bloodshot plague wasn't a thing humans had. The speaker had flowing black hair and ominous golden eyes. Those eyes found Mato. "And who are you?"

"Oh right, you haven't met yet." Bruno put on his show. "This is Mato, a special new recruit of ours. Mato, this is-"

"Cinder Fall, right?" Mato stared her down. "I've heard a lot about you."

"Mmm, I can't say I've heard much of you. But, I expect that will change soon enough." Cinder replied, holding his gaze.

 _Oh, just you wait._ Mato thought.

* * *

 **AN:** Another day, another chapter, give or take a dozen extra days. We've actually started to get into the plot, both the fic's and RWBY's. Regarding the lunar shelter, I'm pretty sure most Saiyans didn't just go full on Great Ape every time the moon was full. It'd fuck up their homes and stuff something fierce. So on my Planet Vegeta, Saiyans either run off into the wilderness if they want to transform or hang out in windowless basements until the morning comes.

Credit where it's due, Shigan and its variants are shamelessly ripped from One Piece.

 **Review Responses:** Ddragon21: I haven't decided if Vegeta and Frieza themselves are in this universe, but there definitely is an elite warrior Saiyan prince and a despotic ruler of the Planet Trade Organization. And don't worry, humans aren't going to be an afterthought when it comes to fighting once we get a little farther along.

Shadows being: I'm glad to hear it. I've got at least seven more chapters of plot worked out already, so this baby is gonna go for a while.

Epikphael: Good to hear you've accepted my definitely real reason that I had planned from the beginning and definitely didn't pull out of my ass because I was lazy. As far as Mato's power level, I have him pegged around 300. For some practical context, that's roughly Goku's power at the start of DBZ. As far as Remnant is concerned, this puts Mato in the highest tier, top percentage of Rattatas. He's incredibly strong, but not ludicrously so. So while he could beat, say, Port in a fight, he couldn't beat Port, Oobleck, Qrow, Glynda, and Ironwood.

Philip J Fry: Well shucks, I'm glad you like it. It's a pet peeve of me too when people try to compare series and forget that the DBZ power scale gets ludicrously huge really quickly. Romance may or may not be happening, it's not an area I have a great degree of skill and poorly done romance arcs piss me off too. We'll see.

Jackalope89: I'll give you just a teensy little plot tidbit ahead of time. Yang's semblance is going to be pretty important in the grand scheme of things.

Alright guys, I hope you enjoyed this chapter and are looking forward to the next one. Cya then!


	4. How I Learned to Juggle Humans

**Chapter 4: How I Learned to Juggle Humans**

Mato was leaning against a pillar, arms folded and eyes closed, giving a solid good-faith effort to falling asleep while standing when he registered a pair of familiar scents approaching him. Irritated, he cracked his eyes open to see Mercury swaggering over with Emerald following behind him. Mercury had his usual smug grin plastered on his face. Gods, he hadn't even said anything yet and he was already annoying Mato.

Mato had come to Vale to, as Adam had said, be in reserve in case things went south. Only things weren't going south, they were going so north they were going to hit the pole if this kept up. And that meant Mato had had all of nothing to do. Since he was within the city, he didn't even have the option of filling his time with hunting Grimm, or going outside at all for that matter. Perry and Bruno had been quite insistent on that, saying Mato was already known to their enemies and he would be too easily spotted. And so Mato had spent nearly two weeks sleeping through the days and spending the nights waiting for a crisis that never came.

The boredom was enough to try his sanity, and Cinder's stooges were only making matters worse. Almost immediately after he had arrived, the dunce duo had been testing Mato's patience. Emerald had mostly backed off after Mato threatened to break her fingers the next time her hands wandered near his pockets, but Mercury had done the badgering of any three people.

This time would be no exception. "Hey buddy, whatcha up to?" The silver haired human spoke in highly pitched tone that had bugged Mato _before_ he had learned that was how humans spoke to children.

"I _was_ meditating." Mato responded tartly. He didn't bother to turn to face the two of them, and continued to stare out over the warehouse's floor. They were back in the first warehouse; the one Tukson had led him to before Mato had found his gainful employment.

"Really?" Mercury paused to let them all hear the, admittedly loud, background noise of the White Fang at work. "Not where I'd pick to 'look for inner peace', or whatever you do."

"Inner peace is meaningless if you need outer peace to reach it." Mato quoted his father's platitude. The crazy thing was the old man had actually meant it. More than once Mato had privately agreed with the guys in town who said his father spent so much time on the farm he began to think like a plant. Mato wondered how he was doing now, how he was handling the harvest without him.

Mercury was oblivious to Mato's little trip down memory lane. "Maybe, but I think you're the kinda guy that prefers action."

"You do keep complaining about having nothing to fight." Emerald added.

"Hey yeah." Mercury said. "If you're looking for a fight, why don't you take me on? I could use the exercise."

"A fight with a challenging opponent is engaging. Beating down a helpless sap is not." Mato explained. He finally turned to look Mercury in the eye. "And the way you've convinced yourself you're the former is just adorable enough that I'd feel bad for killing you."

That got a chuckle out of Emerald and a flicker of annoyance over Mercury's face. "Oh really? Want to prove those words?" His voice had gotten low. He probably thought it made him sound dangerous.

"Why? I know they're true. Or do you believe I care what you think?" Mato closed his eyes and leaned back again. "Now get lost, you're distracting me."

There were a few whispered words between Emerald and Mercury before the latter loudly said he'd love to spar if Mato changed his mind and they left him. Mato sighed once they were out of earshot. That wasn't going to stop any time soon, he knew. It wasn't as if Bruno had been particularly subtle about Mato's purpose. A group you're controlling through intimidation suddenly picks up a "special new recruit" that is singlehandedly accomplishing priority missions for them? The White Fang might as well have hung a sign reading "Anti-Cinder contingency" around Mato's neck.

With his immense power being the main threat to her group's survival, it would have been stranger for Cinder to not be trying to uncover Mato's abilities. It wasn't like she would have been terribly broken up if Mato killed her boy toy while fighting him. That would require her to care about her underlings, a trait she seemed to not even understand on a conceptual level.

Mato grumbled. Suppressing his desire to smash Mercury's perfect teeth in had left him in a foul mood. He flipped off the balcony and landed lightly on the factory floor. Only the closest White Fang looked up and those returned to their work quickly. By now everyone was used to Mato taking direct paths to his destinations, with no regard for convention, gravity, and on one occasion a wall in his way. Perry had been pissed about that one.

Speaking of Perry, there he was now. "Mato. There's a meeting starting as soon as Roman arrives."

"Not sure why you're telling me that." Mato replied. There had been five such planning meetings since Mato had arrived here and he had attended none of them.

Perry made a face. "You know, it wouldn't kill you to at least show up for some of these."

"Actually, I'm pretty sure that me having prolonged exposure to Torchwick would end with someone dead. Either him at my hands or me from my brain hemorrhaging itself." Mato began to walk away. "Besides, I have better things to do."

"Like what?"

"Anything else." Mato heard Perry's disgusted sigh as he entered the barracks room of the base. It wasn't much, just beds and a few trunks to hold clothing and some minor personal effects. On a whim, Mato started to get changed into civilian clothes he grabbed out of a trunk at random. Once he was no longer garbed in the emblems of the White Fang, he went out the window and quickly scaled the building to the roof.

Mato breathed deep of the crisp night air. The city had its own unique scent, one that was the combination of a hundred other ones. Humans of all varieties, dozens of kinds of food, fuel and exhaust, he could sit here all night dissecting it and not be finished by morning. Not that he was going to spend his first evening outside in over a week lounging around. His time cooped up was proving to be murder on his readiness, he needed to work his muscles or risk them turning to sludge.

And so, after a quick few stretches, Mato blasted off into the night. He soared through the city solely on the power of his legs, only using flight to gain traction on the air. Moving more through a serious of horizontal hops than anything else, Mato gradually began to dip lower as he raced through the maze of buildings this city was. Finally he stopped when he nearly clipped the head of a passerby (who looked up confused at the sudden gust of air) and skidded to a stop down an alleyway.

Mato took a second to get his bearings. His 'run' had carried him over to one of the nicer parts of town, where the streets were lined with shops instead of warehouses and abandoned factories. In fact, Mato realized as he stepped on onto the street, he recognized this place. If his memory was correct… he slipped down an alley, tried his luck with a door that turned out to be unlocked, and stepped into the back room of Tukson's book trade.

There was the sound of shattering ceramics as Tukson dropped the plate he was holding. He jumped back from Mato, backing up to the wall behind him. "They sent you, didn't they!?" He demanded.

Mato paused, not sure what he meant by that. Tukson filled the silence, almost babbling. "I thought they might catch on but I don't care. I won't be party to this madness, not anymore. Adam's going too far, if no one else can see that they're as gone as he is. If they want to kill me for leaving, I'll shred anyone they send, even you." He flicked his fingers and claws extended.

"Tukson…" Mato wasn't sure how to say this. "No one sent me anywhere. I only came here because I was bored."

"You did?" Mato nodded. "Then you didn't know I was planning on quitting the White Fang? Running away to Vacuo?"

"Well, I do now." Mato said. Tukson's face bore a striking resemblance to a gaping fish mouth for a moment and then it hardened.

"Doesn't matter. You know, so I have to kill you." He began to slowly approach Mato.

Mato quirked his head to the side, confused. "Why?"

Tukson pulled up, now looking confused himself. "What do you mean why? You know I'm quitting the White Fang now, you can rat me out."

"Why would I? I don't care whether you stay or go."

"But- but those are the rules of the White Fang." Tukson was surprisingly making a case for Mato having to murder him. "They don't let anyone leave, not outside of a body bag."

"So?" Mato shrugged. "Like I care about the rules of the White Fang. They pay me so I fight for them. Until they start paying me to hunt down deserters, I could care less about you bailing this petty human conflict."

Tukson's expression was a mix of relief and disgust. "You really mean it? You're not going to tell anyone?"

Something just occurred to Mato. "Even if I did care, I owe you for the information you gave me about the moon. So to make us even, I'll keep this little secret for you."

Tukson slumped against the wall as the adrenaline began to leave his body. "Man, I've got to get out of this town." He said to himself.

"Might also be a good idea to not go blabbing your plans to everyone that walks in." Mato commented drily. Tukson looked up at him.

"Tell me something. What do you _want_ exactly? There's no way you're only after a paycheck."

Mato looked away from him, towards the front window he could just see through the doorway. He watched the lights of a car drive by before answering. "I want what I have. Food, shelter, a job where I'm paid to do what comes easily to me. What else could I possibly wish for?"

Tukson didn't seem to believe him. An awkward silence dragged on between the two of them. Mato broke it by reaching for the door. "Well, you have a lot on your plate right now. I don't want to keep you."

"Um, yeah." Tukson nodded his agreement. "Lots of things to do before I leave, got to take care of the shop and everything."

"Right, right. So I'll just be going then." Mato opened the door.

"Of course." Tukson seemed a little _too_ happy to see Mato go. He paused.

"Oh, I just remembered a question I had. Do you know why the moon is broken?"

Tukson rubbed at his chin while he thought. "There's been a ton of ideas. A meteor impact, a weird orbital problem, some older mythologies claim it was broken in a big battle. There's never been any proof for any of them, though."

Mato thought on that. "I see." He looked Tukson in the eye. "Farewell, Tukson. Good luck in Vacuo."

"Goodbye, Mato." Tukson replied. "Don't take this the wrong way but since there's a decent chance Adam might have you track me down and kill me I hope we never see each other again."

"Fair enough." Mato left, walking back out into the night. Without a purpose he began to wander the city, idly wondering how it would go for Tukson. His soon to be former comrades weren't the types to forgive betrayal, but they were getting busy and Tukson might not be important enough to justify the effort of finding him. Mato shrugged. He didn't care.

And because he didn't care, two days later when Mercury and Emerald returned to the base reeking of blood and claiming to have "taken it upon themselves to kill the rat" Mato said and did nothing. Humans could slaughter themselves in droves as far as he was concerned.

"Hey Mato!" Perry approached holding a clipboard. Mato was currently leaning against a wall on the second floor, where he'd had a great view of the show of Cinder threatening her supposed subordinates. He was beginning to doubt that woman could inspire genuine loyalty from anyone and was ruling through fear simply because she was incapable of doing otherwise.

Perry pulled up a little short. "Uh, is something the matter?" Perry asked him.

"No."

Perry didn't seem convinced. "Uh… anyway, we've got a job for you. We're moving to a new base of operations, but it's in an area likely to be overrun with Grimm."

"So I go in first and kill everything that moves, right?" Mato said. Sounded like just the exercise he needed. "Where is it?"

"We're going to be taking a flight out; you'll just ride with us." Perry glanced down at the scroll in his hands. "We'll need you to work fast; you'll be needed back here soon."

"Oh?" After two weeks of inaction, Mato was surprised to be given two tasks at once. "What for?"

"We're going to be having a rally here, one where we'll be taking on new members." Perry explained.

"Meaning there'll be a decent chance of infiltration, so you want extra security around." Mato summarized.

"Right. The rally is in five days, so we'll need the caverns cleared out in four to get you back here in time for the preparations."

Mato smirked. "Who do you think you're talking to? I'll need one day."

* * *

Technically, it had taken Mato _two_ days to empty Mountain Glenn of Grimm, but only because more Grimm had been let into the caves on the second morning by a short lived White Fang member knocking a hole in a wall to make space. Either way, Mato returned to Vale with time to spare.

The night of the rally was upon them. Bruno and Torchwick were going to be putting on a show for a warehouse mostly filled with uniformed White Fang members, but with a sizable contingent on new recruits. Somewhere in that group of casually dressed newbies was Perry, going in 'undercover' to try and sniff out any potential spies. Mato was up in the rafters along with a number of armed guards, using the elevated view to watch for trouble. At a signal from Perry, he would spring into action and bring down whoever Perry had marked.

"Thank you all for coming." Bruno was just getting started. "For those of you joining us for the first time tonight, allow me to introduce a very special comrade of ours. I can assure you, he is the key to obtaining what we have fought for for so long!" He was laying it on a bit thick, Mato thought. In the grand scheme of things, Roman's contributions were largely minimal and Bruno knew it. Mato wondered where the praise was coming from. Cinder's orders, to mask her involvement? Bruno trying to get the crowd to accept a smug bastard like Torchwick?

If the latter was the intent, it hadn't worked. Torchwick barely set foot on the stage before being showered with boos. Mato tuned out his self-aggrandizing speech and focused on the newcomers. One of them briefly caught Mato's attention for being armed, but beyond that there wasn't anything suspicious.

The room erupted with whispers and hushed comments when Torchwick revealed one of the mech-suits Mato had seized, paladins he thought they were called. By human standards he supposed they were indeed impressive machines. Roman finished his spiel with an offer to join the growing White Fang presence in Mountain Glenn and this time he was greeted with cheers, originating from the uniformed section. Mato admired the subtlety of Perry's planning there. Crowds more often than not followed the lead of someone within them. So, all you needed to do was have a few people in the audience ready to act like you wanted and you could control the group's reaction.

Bruno beckoned the new recruits forward. Mato watched them march forward, until he was distracted by a commotion on the stage. Torchwick was stomping forward, angry about something. Mato was just about to follow his vision to see what when there was the crack of gunfire and the lights went out. There was shouting, someone grunting in pain, and a mechanical whirl before a window was smashed out and seconds later the wall below it exploded outward. The rush of moonlight let Mato catch a glimpse of the paladin stomping away.

Mato flipped off the balcony, relying more on his nose to guide him than his eyes in the still mostly dark warehouse. He landed lightly next to Perry. "What just happened?"

Perry sounded upset. "Didn't you see? There were spies, Roman's chasing them in the paladin, go after them!"

"Going." Mato darted out the hole in the wall. And then stopped looking up and down the street. You'd think a giant mecha unit would be fairly obvious, but there wasn't any to be found. Torchwick must have been really moving, then. Mato shot up into the air for a better view and finally spotted the hulking machine, charging after what he presumed were the spies, although from this far away all he could make out was that there were two of them. Mato dropped back down to the ground and began to race after them. It would be boring if he ended the chase by swooping out of the sky after only a few seconds, after all.

He had just followed Torchwick to one of the city's raised highways when a car flew over the side and plummeted to the ground below. Mato had plenty of time to meet it in the air with a hand raised ready to catch it. That hand proceeded to neatly punch through the car's floor, with the mass of the vehicle slamming into him.

It took Mato a few seconds to right himself, which brought them far closer to hitting the ground than he would have liked. Grumbling at the shoddy materials used in Remnant construction, he lowered the rest of the way and set the car down on the pavement. He ripped his hand free, just in time to see another two cars flip off the highway and go tumbling to their doom. Cursing internally, Mato went to work.

He sent a ki blast ahead of him to the first car, neatly severing it in two. Mato positioned himself between the two halves and grabbed hold of the seat in the front, with a woman in it, and the seat in the back, with a pair of children. That humans tended to be strapped into their vehicles would be convenient for this next part. With a flick of his wrists, he broke the seats from the rest of the car and hurtled them both into the sky. By now the other car had almost hit the ground but it was a simple matter of body flickering in front of it and making sure not to concentrate his catch in one spot to get ahold of it. After setting it down somewhat lightly, Mato just had to zip back into the air to catch the pair of seats.

"Yaaay! Let's do that again!" The kids were pleased from their little trip; the mother looked as though her life was still flashing before her eyes. Mato set them down next to the severed remains of their car and blasted off after Torchwick.

Mato spent a while scanning the maze of elevated streets in this part of town before finally spotting the mech, down off the roads on the ground below. As Mato got closer, he noticed a problem or two, depending on how you would classify its arms being missing. There was also a bunch of ice covering it. Mato wasn't sure how that would happen but he was pretty sure it wasn't a good sign. Lastly, approaching this crippled, immobilized mech was a blonde woman moving at a somewhat impressive speed for a human. Mato sped up.

The woman's fist hit the paladin before Mato did and shattered the battlesuit to pieces. Annoyingly, despite all the odds Torchwick rolled free from the wreckage completely unharmed. He patted at his clothes. " _Just_ got this thing cleaned."

"Yes, that's the real problem here." Mato said in a tone dripping with sarcasm. He landed next to Torchwick. "You steal a paladin for a joyride, fail to accomplish anything of value with it, and now it's fit only for scrap. But no, what matters here is that you must suffer the inconvenience of having to do laundry."

"Hey! Who are you?!" A female voice demanded. Mato ignored it.

"First of all," Torchwick began as his pet mute Neo popped out of nowhere to join them. "This suit's dry clean only." Mato didn't know what that meant, but he knew a lame comeback when he heard one. "Second of all, I was taking care of intruders that slipped right under your nose, you miserable excuse for a guard dog."

Mato decided to pass over the inherent absurdity of being called an animal by a mudman, mainly because Torchwick wouldn't understand, and glanced back over his shoulder. There were four of them, all women. It was with a slight bit of chagrin that he saw one of them was the person he had noted being armed in the warehouse. "Indeed, they look quite dead to me." He looked back to Torchwick. "Now they'll never tell anyone about our new weapons. Our enemies will surely not be able to work out who the paladin that rampaged through town with a White Fang emblem could possibly belong to."

"Don't ignore me!" The same voice as earlier yelled as something was fired towards them. Without turning, Mato raised his hand. He had to resist the urge to double check the angles; if this didn't work he'd look stupid as hell. Luckily, what he had seen out of the corner of his eye was sufficient and he caught the flaming shell without seeming to pay any attention to it.

Mato had meant for that little trick to impress the women, but it seemed Torchwick also got the message. "Right, maybe you should finish the job then." He said, his usual cockiness abating somewhat.

"Maybe I will." Mato turned to face the women, but looked back at him. "We'll finish this talk later. For now, just get out of here." Torchwick and his lackey bolted while Mato regarded his new foes. The blonde was clearly a hand to hand combatant with an exploitable temper, the black haired one was chosen to be the infiltrator so she was bound to be a more sly and cunning fighter. It might also mean she was weaker than the others, though Mato was the last person to dismiss the danger of a clever if physically weak enemy. The other two looked more standard for hunters, elaborate weapons and colorful outfits.

Mato sighed. He just wasn't really feeling it. "Go." He told them. "This once, I will let you escape."

"What?" The one wearing the cape asked. She looked disappointed if anything, like she had been looking forward to dying at Mato's hands.

Mato folded his arms. "It's a reward for kicking Torchwick around. Seeing him fail that miserably has made my night, so I'll pay you back by letting you live."

"And what if we don't accept?" Challenged cape-girl, who probably didn't think that sentence entirely through.

"Well then," Mato smirked, then body flickered. From directly behind them, he continued. "I'd have to kill you all anyway."

Their reactions were pretty satisfying. They all jumped in complete surprise, though their training showed and they were all ready to fight with weapons raised a second later. It confirmed Mato's suspicion, that they were not able to follow his movements. That was why he had used body flicker in the first place, even though orienting himself properly had needed three uses of the technique. He had made sure to fold his arms again, they wouldn't be able to tell he had unfolded them to begin with and it reinforced the impression that such speed came easily and naturally to him.

The performance had mostly worked; they looked a lot less confident than they had seconds ago. The blonde was still raring for a fight, but her comrades were looking much more like the only reason they weren't already running was their pride. As a bullhead carrying Torchwick and Neo passed overhead, Mato decided to let them hang on to that.

"Looks like time's up." He rose slowly into the air. "Don't forget, the next time we meet, you won't get to walk away." He shot into the sky, following the airship. With any luck, when they got back to base he'd get another chance to tear into Torchwick.

* * *

 **AN** : And Mato finally meets Team RWBY. He's not very impressed, though that may change with time. Or not, who knows. (I do)

This chapter took a lot longer than I had hoped to get out, mainly due to college deciding three exams in one week is an entirely reasonable thing to do to a person. I'm not entirely satisfied with the ending point, it feels inconclusive somehow. Let me know what you guys think.

 **Reviewer Responses:** GotenGT: Sadly, Blake was long gone by the time Mato came around. I'm not really sure she'd be able to really talk sense into him either way though. It would require him being willing to admit he's wrong.

Mangahero18: I'm glad to hear that (the typical saiyan bit, not the OC part). Part of what was missing from DBZ was that with Goku knowing nothing and Vegeta being the super-elite prince, we never really got a look at what an ordinary saiyan would be like. Mato is my take on the concept, and so far I think it's coming across pretty well.

Okay guys, I'll see you next time, which hopefully will be a little quicker than this one.


	5. They're Just Humans

**Chapter 5: "They're Just Humans"**

The city of Mountain Glenn was an interesting place. Underground, it nevertheless managed to be an airy, open space with frankly an excess of space. The desolate avenues provided a decent enough area to stretch one's legs in and the White Fang were all too unnerved by the silence and emptiness to venture far from the areas they had set up shop, meaning Mato had most of the space to himself. With Mato having standing orders to remain within the caverns, he made the most of it.

Exploring the ruined city had become his new hobby. Ostensibly he was doing it to patrol for Grimm incursions into the caves but really the main attraction was that it kept him away from Torchwick. For reasons Mato didn't really understand, despite his colossal failure at the rally Torchwick had become de facto leader of the White Fang contingent at Mountain Glenn. Perry and Bruno were both meekly taking orders from him now, along with everyone else. And Torchwick had promptly let that go to his head.

" _Where are my paladins? There were supposed to be a dozen of them here to be loaded onto the train. I know it might be hard for you to count, but zero is a lot less than twelve."_

" _They aren't here because we don't need them."_

" _Really? Then where, pray tell, are we going to get the firepower we need?"_

" _I am here. I am worth twenty of those mechanical toys."_

After that argument and half a dozen similar ones, Mato had started spending a lot more time outside the camp's confines. It wasn't like he was in any way needed; everyone was focused on repairing that old train and stuffing it full of weapons and explosives. They were taking their sweet time about it; they had been here two weeks now and they still weren't finished. Though from what Mato had gleaned everything didn't need to be ready for another ten days or so, so they should be fine anyway.

Mato, having no interest in hefting crates around, was staying out of it. He was instead entertaining himself by exploring the tunnels and caves that comprised the ruined city of Mountain Glenn. The city had an exciting history, the brief explanation Mato had been given was that it was an expansion of the city of Vale whose residents had been summarily slaughtered by Grimm that invaded. Mato's observation that this made the entire city one giant mausoleum had been largely unwanted by his fellow new residents of Mountain Glenn.

It was rather depressing, however, to see firsthand just how weak the human race really was. Slaughtering Grimm en masse should not have provided any real difficulty; as far as Mato could tell even the weaker hunters he had faced wouldn't have had too much trouble warding off small armies of Grimm. But, history had proven Mato's assumptions were false. He was beginning to consider humanity to be a worthless species. Weak in battle and with the knowledge to only develop primitive technology, there just didn't seem to be any value to human lives.

Speaking of worthless humans, Mato returned to the camp from one of his explorations to find Torchwick indulging in his usual foolishness. It would seem the girl with the red cape they had encountered earlier had somehow tracked them to the caves. She had been caught and now Torchwick was making an ass of himself brutalizing a defenseless opponent. Seeing her use some kind of high speed movement technique, one that bizarrely left what looked like flower petals floating behind her, to escape and leave Torchwick staring dumbly at her retreating form was almost amusing enough for Mato to let her go. Almost.

Mato announced his arrival by body flickering behind her and pulled her up short by the collar of her cape. He lifted the squirming teenager and turned back to the group. "Torchwick, if you're going to screw around you can at least not let our prisoners make a fool out of you."

"I had everything under control." Torchwick replied indignantly.

"I'm sure." Mato said. He would have said more, but the sound of an explosion caught his attention. He rotated in its direction, still holding up the struggling hunter. There was another, much stronger explosion that shook dust loose from the ceiling.

"What's going on here!?" Torchwick demanded. A group of White Fang came around the corner, clearly running for their lives. And if Mato was a betting man, he'd guess they were running from the other group that came around after them. They were Red's three friends, an older man with glasses Mato assumed to be the leader, and a dog.

"Guys!" Red called out to them. Mato leapt into the air, getting a clear shot without the White Fang being in the way. He drew back his arm and whipped Red forward like a screaming missile. The screaming stopped when she was caught by the blonde, though at the cost of her being bowled over and both of them being on the ground. Mato moved while he descended so that he was about ten meters away from them.

"I see you weren't wise enough to take my warning." Mato chided them. "I didn't expect that you would place so little value on your own lives. If I'd known, I'd have just killed you back then and spared us all this trouble."

Red appeared to be ignoring him. "Guys, Torchwick's got all sorts of weapons down there."

"It's true." Mato confirmed. "They're all loaded up on the train if you want them."

"Why?" Glasses asked. "These tunnels are all sealed. The tracks just lead to a dead end."

A screech over the announcement speakers preceded Torchwick's voice. "Get to your places, we are leaving now!" With a hiss of steam, the train began to move.

"Apparently not." Mato said drily.

"We have to stop that train!" Red declared.

Mato snorted derisively. "Good luck with that."

Red, now once again armed with her scythe, charged forward. Before she could swing her heavy weapon Mato was already driving a palm into her chest. She flew backward as her comrades began their own attacks. Mato readied himself for them, only to jump backwards to avoid the wave of flames that shot towards him.

It was Glasses. Flames flickering at the end of his odd staff-like weapon, he positioned himself between the girls and Mato. "You girls go on ahead. I'll catch up with you after taking care of things here."

Mato raised an eyebrow as the girls broke off and began to run for the tunnel. _Someone's feeling confident._ He frowned at Red's receding back and darted over in front of her again. "And who gave you permission to leave?" He drew back a fist.

"I did!" Mato had to leap backward to avoid another gout of flames as Glasses nearly struck him with his staff. For something like fire, Mato would need to maintain a barrier of ki over parts of his body to avoid being burned. It wasn't really something he could do while facing down a multitude of enemies all at once. In addition, Glasses had very nearly kept pace with him back there. Mato had been faster, but not by much.

Mato made no moves to stop the quartet as they disappeared into the tunnel. Staring Glasses down, he looked for any possible weaknesses to exploit, but nothing was readily apparent. He was a physically powerful enemy with a dangerous weapon, likely the most challenging opponent Mato had met on Remnant. Still, he was only human and should fall easily enough.

Glasses, likely thinking of his subordinates going after the train, started them off with rushing forward, sweeping his staff across and sending waves of fire rolling ahead of him. Having seen that particular move twice before, Mato was ready for it. He slid under the current of flame and launched a kick upwards, which Glasses dodged. Mato used his momentum to spin into a punch, but it met the staff before it could hit flesh. Glasses drove an open palm blow square into Mato's chest, sending him backwards. The hit hurt a lot less than the knowledge that Mato had actually let one of these humans land one on him.

His budding anger was interrupted when a furry blur came out of nowhere and sunk its teeth into Mato's arm. It was the damn dog. Mato let out a half strangled yelp and waved his arm around, trying to dislodge the vermin suckered on to him. When that failed he thought things through a little more and threw a quick punch with his other arm. Its bite loosed from the hit and Mato was able to fling the dog off, with enough force that it would have slammed into one of the ruined walls had not Glasses moved quickly to catch it.

 _It's rather shameful to use so much strength on a mere dog._ A quiet voice inside Mato's head admonished. It wasn't even a big dog.

 _It_ bit _me._ A much more petulant voice retorted.

Glasses gently set the demonspawn canine down on the ground. From behind his spectacles, he was finally looking serious. He and Mato both charged forward as one and met in the middle with a furious exchange of blows. Throughout the flurry of punches, kicks, and staff strikes, neither fighter landed any real hits on the other. They broke away, Mato's failure stinging worse than anything Glasses had done to him. He ought to have bowled over this human by now. Were the older hunters really this much stronger?

An explosion rocked the air. _What is going on back there?_ Wafting back through the tunnel came the stench of Grimm. Mato's eyes narrowed. Was Torchwick really having so much trouble with the enemy he was trying to lure Grimm in to distract them? He must be getting desperate. Or did he simply not care?

Either way, unchecked Grimm presence didn't bode well for the White Fang in the tunnel with him. Mato had to get over there quickly and that meant settling things here, now.

"What's your name?" He asked his foe.

"Doctor Bartholomew Oobleck. And you?"

"Mato." He took a step back. "I owe you an apology, Bartholomew. I've been trying to smash you into the ground and that's just insulting to a man with your skill."

"Well don't feel too bad." Bartholomew replied. "I've been trying to trounce you myself."

"Have you?" Mato didn't really believe that but decided to let it go. "Well, I've run out of time to keep messing around." For the first time since he arrived on Remnant, Mato assumed his opening stance. "So, if you want to keep holding back that's fine with me, but I'm gonna start fighting."

Mato shot at him closing the distance until at the last second body flickering to the side and aiming a kick at Bartholomew's neck from the side. His shin slammed into the staff. Bartholomew's eyes widened behind his glasses at Mato's glowing hand. He bent backwards, the ki blast just barely missing him. However, from that position he couldn't exert much strength, so Mato powered through his kick and sent the man flying. Bartholomew regained his footing and skidded to stop, but his expression looked a lot more desperate than it had previously.

It wasn't like Mato had gotten significantly stronger or faster; he had already been using much of his power. There was just a world of difference between flailing around with no greater purpose than to hit the enemy and actually using skill and a trained fighting style on them. Though Mato's own style was designed to counter opponents more powerful than him, the fluidity and precision it brought to his movements still dramatically increased his effectiveness even against a weaker foe.

Bartholomew took the initiative with a massive wave of flames. Mato shot a weak burst of ki, enough to punch a hole, and charged through. He threw a punch, which Bartholomew backed away from. Mato continued a relentless advance of punches and kicks, Bartholomew withdrawing just out of reach of each one. Mato's attacks got wilder and fiercer the more he missed, driving to a single, finishing blow. Finally, he overextended himself.

Seeing his enemy off-balance, Bartholomew lashed out with the strongest strike Mato had seen from him, accompanied by a hammer of fire. Just as Mato had expected.

Instead of smashing Mato with all his strength, Bartholomew wasted his energy hitting nothing but air. The saiyan had neatly withdrawn and let the attack swing by, his 'opening' nothing more than a feint. But Bartholomew's opening now was all too real. Mato punished it using body flicker to close and slamming his elbow into the man's stomach. The impact threw Bartholomew back through a ruined wall, ruining it a bit more with the hole he created.

The pile of rubble shifted as Bartholomew stood back up again. He had lost his glasses and looked rather unsteady, but Mato was still impressed. He had half expected that hit to do the older man in. Instead, the doctor was staring him down with grim determination. For now.

Mato cracked his knuckles. "Shall we continue?"

* * *

To say Ruby Rose was having a bad day would be an understatement.

Losing Crescent Rose and being captured by the bad guys was not a great start, being used as a human baseball wasn't an improvement. Getting Crescent Rose back and meeting up with her friends was a step up, but it was immediately followed up by a desperate and failed attempt to stop the runaway train. After being in a train crash, she was now fighting for her life against an army of Grimm currently invading the kingdom.

All in all, she's had better days.

Unfortunately, the fight wasn't going very well for them. The members of Team RWBY had scattered throughout the plaza in an attempt to contain the Grimm, or at least draw their attention. It was working, more or less, but it meant that the four of them were all fighting alone against seemingly infinite numbers of Grimm. For each Grimm they killed, another popped out of the hole. Ruby had driven closer to the hole, trying to ease the pressure on her teammates. If they could clean out the other Grimm, then the four of them could maintain a loose perimeter around the breach until reinforcements arrived.

Ruby spun, Crescent Rose a whirl of death around her. Black limbs rained down as she hacked apart the crowd of Grimm surrounding her. An on rushing Beowolf was bisected and with her follow through she beheaded another coming up behind her. She raised the scythe and shot a young Nevermore out of the sky and spun around to impale a Creep. And another half dozen Grimm rose out of the hole.

There was no end to them. Even Ruby and her friends couldn't fend them all off while still keeping them from rampaging through the city, not without backup.

A Beowolf stuck its head out of the hole. From this distance Ruby really couldn't tell, but it looked as though its eyes widened in surprise before vanishing back below ground. Rising out of the ground in its place was the White Fang warrior, the one with wild black hair and a tail coiled around his waist. Tucked under his arm were the limp bodies of Zwei and Professor Oobleck.

Ruby opened her mouth to say something, likely a shout at him to let them go, but a growl from behind her reminded her was a little busy at the moment. She whirled around to see an unusual Beowolf. Most Beowolves had heads, not smoking stumps at the end of their necks.

The White Fang spoke from behind her. "Well, this is a mess." Ruby turned to see him regarding the plaza turned warzone with a dispassionate expression.

"A mess _you_ made." Ruby said bitingly, only the presence of her pet and teacher in his hands keeping her from attacking him. She would have said more but a charging pack of Grimm demanded her attention. Before she could raise Crescent Rose to fire though, the White Fang swept his hand out in front of him in a wide arc. Following the path of his hand, a wave of energy raked the ground and blasted the Grimm to pieces.

"Rude." He said softly. "I'm trying to have a conversation here." He looked back to Ruby. "Anyway, I didn't come here to argue. I just wanted to return these." He threw Zwei and Oobleck at her feet. Ruby's heart leapt into her mouth, but she quickly confirmed they were both merely unconscious. "The tunnels are getting a bit too crowded for taking naps. When he wakes up let him know that if he wants a rematch I'll be up for one." He turned to leave.

"Wait." Ruby wasn't sure why but she felt driven to ask. "Why would you do this?" It didn't make sense. Why let hordes of Grimm into the city then go out of your way to protect someone from them? The White Fang paused but didn't answer her and with a shake of his head he dropped back into the tunnel. The murkiness underground lit with a flash and Ruby felt a faint rumble shake where she was crouching.

In the sky, an explosion and a high pitched squeal announced the arrival of Nora followed by the rest of Team JNPR. Ruby shelved her confusion and with a grunt of effort hoisted Professor Oobleck onto her shoulder and scooped up Zwei. First she needed to get these two somewhere safe.

* * *

Mato rooted through the pile of rubble, but with no real expectations. From the looks of things, most of the White Fang had been driven from the train either by the attacking enemies or to avoid the impact of the crash. They were then fallen upon by the Grimm flooding into the tunnel and subsequently eaten. The few survivors were the ones sheltered by the train wreckage and rubble keeping the Grimm away. Mato had started with those piles near the end of the tunnel, after clearing the area of Grimm, and had managed to pull out a scattered few still breathing. Now that the breach into the city had been sealed, however, he had moved on to checking the much smaller piles of rubble created by the initial explosions and was having much less success.

Mato let the boulder he was hoisting up crash back down onto the ground. There was no one left, not alive any way. He torched the remaining bodies, better cremation than being Grimm food, and returned back down the tunnels to the ruined city. Not all the White Fang had boarded the train; a scant few had remained behind holding up their positions in Mountain Glenn. Now it fell to them to keep the few survivors from the train alive.

Mato slipped into the field hospital and watched silently as one of the ad hoc medics tended to Bruno, the larger man having withstood his injuries through what Mato assumed to be pure obstinance. The medic, a young man with amber hair who was in charge solely by virtue of being willing to issue orders to the others rose from his patient and met Mato at the door.

"Any others?" He asked, sounding torn between wishing that there were and hoping that there weren't.

Mato shook his head. "None. This is it."

"Damn." The medic glanced back at his fellows still hard at work applying bandages and supplying basic painkillers to those conscious. With no one left having any real medical training, that was what they limited to. One of the people Mato had pulled from the wreckage had been so far gone that the 'medics' could do nothing but look away as Mato snapped her neck to make her passing quick. "I thought things would be bad, but not this bad."

"You were expecting this?" Mato asked. He suspected he already knew the answer, but hoped he didn't.

"Yeah." The medic answered, dashing his hopes. "The breach plan was always going to be dangerous, but it shouldn't have been a complete suicide mission. Damn Huntsmen." He ran a hand through his hair while laughing bitterly. "To think I was actually disappointed at having to stay behind."

Mato had to make sure before he acted. "So what happened, sending the train into the center of the city to let armies of Grimm in after it was always the plan?"

"Yep." The medic looked confused at Mato's expression. "Wait, you didn't know?"

 _I had been actively avoiding any opportunity to be told that._ Mato might have said. Instead he merely shook his head and said "No. No I didn't."

As if from a great distance, Mato heard the sharp crack again.

"I'm leaving." He said to the medic. "I don't think there are many Grimm left in the area after what's happened, but I wouldn't assume this place will be safe for much longer. As soon as you can you should get everyone moving."

"Wait." The medic called out to him as Mato began to walk away. "Where are you going?"

Mato didn't answer him, taking off towards one of the openings to aboveground opened by the bombed train cars. Upon reaching the open air he shot straight into the sky until he reached the clouds. From this height, he could see the city of Vale off in the distance. In the light of the setting sun, the smoke still rising from the middle of the city looked almost beautiful.

Mato turned away. He had business elsewhere.

Weariness pervaded through his body as he flew. His fight with Bartholomew had taken more out of him than he thought any human could. Then he'd had to fight through all those Grimm and scour the length of the tunnel for survivors. He was decidedly not at full strength.

Mato banished those thoughts. Even tired, he still had more than enough power to blow anyone away, everyone if necessary.

As Mato reached Alpha Camp, on the way in he spotted rows of paladins standing dormant. Another piece of his work that would need amending. He ceased his flight and dropped out of the sky. His graceful landing in the center of the camp concealed that he had fallen the ten or so meters to the ground in free fall to conserve energy. Some nameless White Fang member approached him. "What happened in the city? We heard the breach plan went ahead, but it should have been too early. Why'd you come back here, shouldn't you be helping to make sure everything goes smoothly?"

Mato ignored the questions. "Where's Adam?"

The White Fang didn't seem to catch Mato's mood. As others came closer he continued his interrogation. "Why did you guys go early? We weren't ready to capitalize on the chaos you caused. You should have-"

He was cut off by Mato's fist crashing into his head. As he fell backwards the others around them leapt backwards, some pulling out guns or other weapons. Mato repeated himself.

"Where's Adam?" He asked again, his voice deadly soft.

Fuchsia emerged from the crowd, face hard. "Why do you want to know?"

"To kill him, if I don't like his answers." Mato answered truthfully.

"You think we need to answer to you?" Someone in the crowd asked. Mato turned to reply but the words died in his throat. His mouth hung open and his eyes widened.

 _Oh shit._ Mato thought, as he stared at the full moon.

* * *

 **AN:** With all the excitement (and having been living underground) Mato completely forgot to keep track of the lunar schedule.

 **Reviewer Responses:** Jackalope89: It's not so much that Mato saw Yang go gold as he saw her already be gold from a distance while he was focused on someone else entirely. He didn't really get a good look at it, but he will in the future.

shadows being: Well, he's having a bit of a falling out with the White Fang, but this has only made his friend situation even worse.

6tailedninja: I think this is a common misconception. The idea of the Super Saiyan being a transformation into a blond super powered state wasn't known to the saiyans before Goku became one. When he was beating the tar out of Jeice and Burter, Vegeta suspected Goku had already become a Super Saiyan and after getting powered up from his near death experience he was convinced he was now a Super Saiyan.

Raos: I'm conflicted about writing pairings, as romance is not really a strong suit and there's currently no way to develop any organically, as our protagonist is currently making enemies of almost everyone. Maybe later on in the story we'll see some. To your question I don't want to give away the plot too much so I'll just invite you to keep reading.

Guest(s): I'm glad you guys like it. I hope you stick around and enjoy the show.


	6. A Man Must Work

**Chapter 6: A Man Must Work**

Mato awoke naked, sore all over, and with the taste of dirt in his mouth.

 _Damnit, not again._

Mato hadn't unintentionally transformed since he was ten. The resulting devastation an uncontrolled Oozaru caused made it a very bad idea. There was some special training warriors got to control themselves even after transforming, but Mato had no idea what it was. He had tried to work it out on his own a few years ago, but after half a dozen attempts with nothing even resembling progress he had given up.

As Mato slowly sat up there was a sharp pain in his cheek. Investigating with his fingers revealed a cut, not a deep one but deep enough to draw blood. _That_ was a surprise. That something could have wounded him while he was transformed, Mato didn't think it was possible for humans. It might not be any more; anything that could actually harm an Oozaru tended to command its attention. That did not bode well for whoever cut him.

Mato saw cross-legged and surveyed his surroundings. He was in a wooded area, though one with a line of toppled trees stretching off into the distance. No credits for guessing what caused that. Speaking of credits, the transformation shredding his clothing meant he had lost the contents of his pockets, the money he had earned with his work. So now Mato had nothing to show for his time with the White Fang except a sense of disappointment. Really, the entire two months he had spent on Remnant had been completely wasted. Maybe he should chuck it all and just live out here in the wilds; his state of dress would be a problem otherwise. Though saiyans lacked the stigmas associated with nudity that many species had, Mato was aware enough to know he couldn't exactly return to the human city without finding something to wear.

Mato smelled Grimm in the same moment he heard the screaming. A second later he was darting through the underbrush. He burst from the foliage to see a young human, a male maybe four or five years older than Mato, being menaced by an Ursa. He was backed to a large boulder, his arms raised futilely to ward off the monster and his eyes closed to attempt to deny the inevitable. They tentatively opened when the Ursa let out a strangled gurgle instead of biting off his head. When he saw Mato sitting atop the fading corpse he did a double take, then averted his eyes.

Mato tsked. Prudish human. "Hello."

"Um, hi." The human seemed to be having difficulty accepting that he was not in fact about to die. "Thank you, I mean, for saving me." He walked over to a knife that had been lying in the grass and retrieved it. Even after he had done so, he kept resolutely staring at a tree off in the distance.

"Don't thank me just yet." Mato said. He had an idea. "I didn't save you for free."

The human gulped audibly. "So… what exactly do you want?"

"Give me your pants."

The human stepped back, looking nearly as distressed as he died when facing the Ursa. "W-why?"

"Because I'd like to be able to have conversation with someone without them staring in the opposite direction." Mato said drily. "And I'm getting the impression that's not going to happen until I cover up."

After a moment's deliberation, the human surrendered the garment. The pants were oversized and Mato could tell they were going to chafe certain sensitive areas after a while but they would suffice for now. As Mato was donning the article of clothing his stomach growled. An Oozaru rampage tended to make one hungry. Mato glanced at the human in his undergarments.

"Say, is there a village around here?"

* * *

The human's name was Octarine, Octa for short. He had been returning to his home village from a neighboring one yesterday, when he'd had to take cover from the Grimm. Normally, he explained as they walked, it was fairly easy to avoid the Grimm in this region, even with them becoming more active recently. If you knew the terrain and made sure to travel during the day when they were less mobile, you could travel between villages with little danger. However, yesterday afternoon he had been making the trek home from another village where he had done some trading the Grimm had been far more active than usual. "It was like nothing I'd seen before." Octa said. "I don't know what happened yesterday that might have roused so many Grimm all at once, but if I hadn't hidden up in the trees I'd be a dead man."

Mato didn't comment. Octa did most of the talking as they walked, Mato mostly brooding and giving one word answers to any questions. Eventually, they reached the village, so far just a wall of logs bound together with the woods cut back from them. Octa called out.

"Hey! It's me!"

"Octa?" A head popped over the wall. "When you didn't come back we feared the worst. Cerul went out to… Why aren't you wearing any pants?"

"It's a long story." Octa replied, briefly glancing at Mato. "Mind letting us in?"

"Sure, just let me get the door." The head dropped back below the wall. There were the sounds of something rattling and being slid around. Mato was suddenly gripped with a surge of impatience. He wrapped an arm around Octa's waist and lightly hopped into the air. As they crested over the wall, he got his first look at Mist Village. The walls extended all the way around to a full circle, within were an assortment of houses and other buildings. All of them were made of wood and the majority was only one story. Smoke rose from the houses, an oddly pleasant scent. Mato found himself reminded of home and for half a moment felt content.

Then they landed. Mato released Octa, who staggered a bit before sharing an incredulous look with the gatekeeper. They might have said something, but at that moment Mato's noise picked up a delicious smell coming from close by. His stomach warbled a reminded he hadn't eaten since lunch yesterday and he set off. The scent was coming from a nearby house, one with its wooden hatch windows opened. Mato pushed open the door to see a table and a pair of benches. On the bench closer to him were two men, one younger, the other old enough to be his father. On the opposite bench there was a woman, looking about the age of the older man. Each one of them had a plate of food in front of them, some kind of meat with a smattering of vegetables. Simple fare, but it looked good all the same.

The diners looked up at his intrusion, a little concerned but mostly curious. Since he had been thinking of home, Mato found himself remembering the old game. He placed a hand on the shoulder of the younger man and threw him off the bench. He ignored the shouts and cries and sat down, already grabbing a piece of meat and taking a bite. The older man stood and reached a hand out towards him; without looking up from his meal Mato grabbed it, bent it back and threw him into the wall behind him. As an afterthought, he dragged the older man's plate in front of him next to the one he was currently eating from. The younger man was back on his feet and lunged forward, but a quick jab to the stomach put him back on the ground wheezing. The woman had withdrawn from the table, hands clasped over her mouth.

In the silence that followed the brief display of violence, Mato stuffed his face. Eat quickly, leave some of the good stuff, don't hurt them more than you had to. He may not have played on this side of the game back home, but he still knew what the rules were.

"What are you doing?" That was Octa, who had followed him. The human seemed distressed, but was still sensible enough to not try to pick a fight.

"Eating." Mato said. He kept it brief so he could eat faster, but it did cover basically everything that needed to be said.

"You can't just march in and take people's food like that!"

Mato rolled his eyes. Humans. "Can. Did." It was that simple. Did they really not understand that?

Octa said nothing back, but quietly spoke with the house's residents. The four of them left after a moment, leaving Mato alone with his food. That served him just fine.

Mato finished his meal and took a minute to wonder what he was going to do now. He currently had nothing to his name but a pair of ill-fitting pants. This village would be a decent place to get started, get a least some proper clothes and a few meals, but Mato had little intention of staying in this place, ruling over helpless villagers. He reviewed his options. He could go anywhere he wanted and do anything he wanted. He just didn't want to go anywhere or do anything.

He exited the house and found himself confronted by a young woman. She had bright blue hair, with traces of brown at the roots showing it was dyed. She carried a spear and looked ready to use it, a hard expression on a face that looked accustomed to having it there. She was dressed in leather clothes that had been adapted into makeshift armor, with its fair share of wear and tear. Octa was standing behind her, looking pensive with his knife in his hands.

"Who do you think you are!?" The spearwoman demanded of him.

"Mato." He answered bluntly.

"Mato." She endeavored to turn the name into an insult. She took a step forward and gestured with the spear. "You think you can just walk in here and take whatever you want?"

"Of course." Mato let out a sigh at the human's inability to understand basic social mechanics. "I have the physical capacity to take that food from those people and prevent them from taking it back. That makes it mine."

"So you have the right to do whatever you want if no one can stop you?" She replied, shaking her head. She looked him in the eyes with a glare that was probably meant to be intimidating. "So if I can kill you, you have no right to complain about me doing so."

That was not, strictly speaking, true. People were not only allowed, but outright expected to resist being preyed on by stronger beings. Honor dictated that the stronger party suppress them with a proportionate degree of force and to respect their courage for daring to fight back, while the weaker side was obligated to capitulate rather than struggle on past the point of decency. However, Mato had no inclination to provide a lecture on one's social obligations and he didn't think the human would listen if he did. So he limited his response to simply saying "That's correct. Assuming you could kill me, that is."

The woman responded with rushing forward and lashing out with her spear. Mato dodged the steel headed serpent's strikes, using a minimum amount of movement. She switched tactics to wide slashes that were harder to sidestep and Mato responded by increasing his speed and flipping past her, stepping off her head just to be a little cheeky. Incensed, she charged at him but her rage left her open. Mato slipped past the spearpoint and drove a palm into her chest, throwing her backwards.

"Cerul!" Octa cried, rushing over to the downed woman. She coughed air back into her lungs as he helped her up. She glared at Mato.

"Picking on people who can't fight back? You're pathetic."

Mato's hands clenched into fists. He raised one and let fly with a blast of ki. When the dust settled, he saw Octa lying unconscious and Cerul sitting up over him, both burned.

"Octa! Hang on!" A light glimmered in Cerul's hands and she pressed them to Octa's chest. The light washed over his body and his burns began to fade.

 _A healing ability?_ Mato turned away and rose into the sky. He didn't feel like fighting anymore.

* * *

In the absence of anywhere better to go, he ended up landing on the tallest building in the village, a two story smithy of some sort, and perched on its roof. He intended to take a nap, get some sleep so he could clear his head and think about what to do next. Unfortunately, his memories denied him that pleasure.

" _Mato."_

" _What is it? I'm about to head back out."_

" _One of the survivors you brought back, she's not gonna make it."_

" _I doubted they all would, what's your point?"_

" _We think it would be…best… if you were to make her dying last a few seconds rather than a few hours."_

 _Mato didn't say anything, just walked over to the prone woman. Her body was a ruin; you didn't need to be a medical expert to know she wasn't long for this world. She was still awake, the medic probably didn't want to waste the limited supply of painkillers they have on a lost cause. Mato crouched and gently leaned her up into a sitting position. She struggled to speak._

" _Thank… you, for helping me. You're, argh, a lot more help than these idiots." She winced, her feature contorting in pain. "They won't give me anything and…hah hah… are helping people way better off first. When I get better I'm gonna kick their asses."_

 _Mato's arm snaked around her neck faster than she could react, his other arm on her head. He twisted and a crack echoed off the walls. Mato let the corpse slump back down onto the ground and rose, face expressionless._

" _I'm going back out, he announced, and was flying before anyone could say anything._

He could still hear the crack of that unnamed woman's neck. When he closed his eyes it echoed out of the recesses of his brain. And it was all his fault, a little voice that sounded like his father whispered at him.

It was not. He hadn't hurt her, the Grimm did. He just made her passing less painful. And it was Torchwick who let the Grimm in in the first place.

He had helped, though. He had been defending the White Fang, securing resources for them, enabling their plans.

He hadn't known what those plans were, though. How could he have known they were going to do something as dishonorable as launching their attack on a bunch of noncombatants?

What was he expecting? That a group of revolutionaries who have never so much as heard of warriors would keep to the warrior's code of honor? It wasn't like they had been hiding their plans from him; he had been _trying_ to not be told. Everyone in that tunnel had died because he was too apathetic to give half a damn.

They made their choices. They knew what the plan was, even if he didn't. They chose to put their lives on the line.

And the noncombatants in the city? Did they choose?

Mato angrily shook his head. He could never beat his old man when they argued in person. Now that Mato's consciousness sounded like him the losing streak continued. Thankfully, he was spared having to dwell on this by a spear embedding itself in the roof next to where he was sitting. He plucked it out of the thatch and threw it back to Cerul's feet. "Try again, but this time aim better."

Cerul did pick up the spear, but she made no move to throw it again. Instead she just glared at him. "I want you out of this village."

"Then make me leave." Mato was aware he was being petulant, he just didn't really care.

Cerul gave a disgusted sigh. "You're the worst kind of person. We're fighting off increasing Grimm attacks, every day out here is a constant struggle to survive and then you show up, take whatever you want, give nothing back, and tell us it's our fault for being weak."

Unbidden, memories surfaced in Mato's mind. _"Come on Mato, it's time to hit the fields."_

" _Daaad, can't I go train instead? It's not like you need my help."_

" _A man must work, if he wants to eat."_

" _Warriors don't have to work. They just take our food whenever they're hungry."_

" _Warriors do their own work. It's not as great as farming, but they don't lie around doing whatever they want either. And even if they did, until you're a warrior yourself you still need to eat. Which means you still need to work."_

He'd forgotten that. He had forgotten a lot of things the old man had tried to teach him. He had been young and stupid back then. As opposed to now, where he was a paragon of intelligent decision making.

Mato let out a bark of laughter. Looking down at Cerul, he spoke. "If you were as strong as me, those Grimm attacks would not be a problem."

She just shook her head, turned on her heel, and left him to his thoughts.

* * *

Cerul regarded the setting sun with distaste. If it could just get on with it and let night begin, that would be great. The Grimm of this region had settled into a pattern these last few months. During the day, they kept to themselves and would only really attack if someone wandered close by. But when night fell, that changed. The Grimm would range outward, hunting. The woods were no longer safe, hell, the village wasn't truly safe either. A concentrated force of Grimm could easily overrun the walls and there was nowhere for the people of the village to run. And since a few weeks ago, there had been enough Grimm out there to do it. The village had been surviving thus far through sheer luck. Any night could be the one. Maybe it was this one.

The sun passed below the trees and the gloom began to grow. Cerul grimaced and pressed a hand to her chest. That punch Mato had given her still hurt even now. Though her semblance was that of healing, she had spent her power on Octa before using what little was left on herself. There hadn't been enough left over to fully mend her wounds. As much as she didn't want to admit it, he was probably right that if she was as powerful as him she could drive away the Grimm on her own. The problem was she wasn't and she was on her own anyway. Octa could take care of himself with his knife if you didn't expect much from him, but most other people in the village could barely handle a spear without hurting themselves. With the walls to keep the Grimm from mauling them, that was enough most of the time. But if anything got through or even put a little too much pressure on the wooden palisade, it would wreak havoc until Cerul could bring it down herself.

This lack of manpower wouldn't have been a problem if Vale had actually sent Huntsmen. Coral had sent out a distress call to the kingdom over a week ago and no one had come. Not even him. Cerul angrily shook her head. Did that surprise her? He had abandoned the village once before, why wouldn't he do so again? She wasn't being entirely fair, she knew. He might not be ignoring their plight; it might be he just didn't know. Of course, he didn't know because he wasn't here because he had abandoned them.

What was taking the Grimm so long? She had been standing here waiting for almost a half an hour now and hadn't seen so much as a Creep. Cerul leaned on her spear and peered into the darkened forest. She hadn't been able to convince her fellow watchmen to douse their watchfires, which played havoc on their night vision, but even so she felt she could make out something moving around in the trees. So there were Grimm out there, if she strained her ears she could hear them. But what were they doing? She heard grunts and growls and… squeals?

Why were they holding back? The Grimm attacks had been increasing in frequency and intensity over the past few weeks. The arrival of Mato, a thief who stole by beating up anyone in his way, would have only made the situation worse by filling the villagers with fear. The Grimm ought to be charging forward in a slavering horde. Instead, it almost sounded as if they were fighting amongst themselves. Further adding to her confusion, a flash of light briefly illuminated the trees.

She was distracted from this riddle by a cry from the other end of the village. "Grimm attacking from the east!"

Cerul gripped her spear and leapt off the wall. She hit the ground running. She could cross the village in twenty seconds and each one of them could mean life or death for her neighbors facing down the Grimm. Which made her tripping and falling potentially catastrophic. She picked herself off the ground bewildered. She could have sworn something had knocked her over, almost like it had blown past her at a high speed, but looking around she couldn't see anything.

When she finally reached the wall, there was an eerie quiet.

"Where are the Grimm?" She asked one of the watchmen.

He responded with a shrug. "Beats me. One minute they were swarming the walls, the next there's a bright flash, almost like an explosion, and they were gone."

Brow furrowing, Cerul leaped down to the outside of the walls. She patted the dirt, confirming her suspicions. It was warm and crumbly, just like a flare of fire had scorched it for a second or two. Looking around, there wasn't any grass left in a wide swath around the wall. She leapt back to the top of the wall, a possible answer she wasn't sure she believed brewing in her mind.

The rest of the night was both busy and uneventful. The Grimm would mass at some part of the walls, Cerul would rush over to combat them, and would find nothing or on a rare occasion a few fading Grimm carcasses. By midnight the attacks had stopped and from the noises and flashes whatever had been killing the Grimm had moved into the woods to engage them more directly. By the time the sky began to brighten, Cerul had withdrawn from the walls and was sitting outside her house. She heard a yawn coming from the roof.

Without turning to look, she asked him. "You don't need to answer this if you don't want, but _why_?"

"Don't get me wrong." Mato said to her. "I annihilated those creatures so I wouldn't have to put with you people trying to get in my way. I think I've proven I could wipe out this entire village if I wanted to. I don't expect any more crap when I take what I need."

 _If you've killed half as many Grimm as I think you did, the entire village owes you their lives. A little food is a small price to pay._ Cerul sighed. "I tell Coral, our leader, what you've done. She'll make sure you can get whatever you want."

Mato yawned again. "Right now, all I really want is some sleep."

"I doubt you need any help getting that." Cerul answered dryly. When Mato didn't answer she stood and walked over to where she could see up onto her roof. The young man was already fast asleep, his bare chest rising and falling rhythmically. Cerul noticed the soles of his feet were bruised and covered in dirt. She sighed.

After putting Mato in her bed, she set off to find Coral. Cerul, at least, paid what she owed.

* * *

"Five minutes to our arrival, students." Professor Port called back from the cockpit. Jaune suppressed a yawn.

The five days following the Grimm invasion of the city had been busy ones. Classes had been suspended in the wake of the breach and extra credit was offered to students willing to help with the reconstruction efforts. Jaune and Nora were in desperate need for something to boost their grades, Nora would be more hindrance than help if Ren didn't come along, and Jaune faintly suspected Pyrrha would have gone even if it had had cost her points. After several long days of toiling away, you would never suspect that the city had suffered a decently sized Grimm attack.

Jaune had been hoping to spend the day after the end of their volunteer work resting and preparing for the start of the tournament. However, when Ren had learned the mission they were going to do before the breach interrupted them hadn't been completed in the interim, he had been insistent that they finish it themselves. Unusually insistent. Though once he had explained his reasons, Jaune couldn't even begin to argue.

The members of Team JNPR didn't do much talking about their pasts. For Jaune, there wasn't much to tell. Pyrrha's various accomplishments were a matter of public record, if you cared to look. Ren and Nora met in an orphanage, which implied the sort of unpleasantness that was rude to pry into. But when insisting they go, Ren had volunteered a brief summary.

He had not been born within the kingdom, as Jaune had assumed, and was instead from one of the villages dotting the wilds. His parents had been protectors of said village and had unfortunately lost their lives defending it. Their last wishes had been that Ren go to Vale both to be safe and to train within the kingdom so that when he was grown he could defend it himself. So he packed up his things, left the village, been picked up by Vale's border patrol and brought to the orphanage, met Nora, started training as a Huntsman, and now had gotten word that his home village was suffering from Grimm attacks. Naturally, he wanted to do something about that.

"We're here!" Professor Port announced as the bulkheads swung open. Ren threw himself out into space, followed closely by Nora and Pyrrha. With a gulp, Jaune leapt out into the air. He fell the twenty some odd feet to the ground and managed to land on his feet, though he stumbled and almost fell over after. He couldn't but compare that to his teammates perfectly coordinated landings and feel a little depressed. He reminded himself to follow Pyrrha's advice and focus on the positives; a few months ago he probably would have landed on his face.

Professor Port joined them on the ground as the airship roared away to find a place to land and Jaune got his first look at Mist Village. It seemed a quaint, quiet place, lots of little wooden houses and a general rustic feeling. JNPR had dropped into what appeared to be the town square and a small crowd had gathered to peer at them. Murmurs rippled, and they didn't sound too positive. Just as Jaune was starting to feel self-conscious a pair of women pushed free from the crowd and walked over to them. The first looked to be about his age, with blue hair and spear slung over her shoulder. The second reminded him uncomfortably of his authoritarian grandmother, from the closely cropped gray hair to the steely glint in her eyes.

Ren spoke first. "Hello Cerul, Coral."

Both of them ignored him. "You are late." Coral said, leveling a stone faced gaze at Professor Port.

"Well," Port began, clearly wrong-footed. "There were circumstances that delayed our departure."

"Truly?" Coral asked, clearly not believing a word. "I hope they were dire circumstances indeed, seeing as if we had not gotten help we would have all been killed long ago."

Jaune's face flushed from embarrassment. It was easy to write off the Grimm as a minor threat at best when you were safe behind the kingdom's defenses, but out here fighting them off was a matter of life and death. And the Huntsmen of Beacon had ignored this threat in favor of being janitors.

Port was less abashed and noticed what she had really told them. "Then you mean to say someone else dealt with the Grimm? Who?"

His question was answered by someone falling out of the sky to land near Cerul and Coral. The newcomer looked a bit younger than Jaune and had spiky black hair and a tail that looked a lot like a brown furry belt wrapped around his waist. Kind of exactly like that one super strong White Fang member Ruby had told Jaune about. But, given the way the murmurs from the crowd now sounded a lot more pleased he didn't really seem like a terrorist. Whoever he was, he ignored the Beacon contingent and spoke to Coral and Cerul.

"I've made a sweep out as far as the river. I'm pretty sure there are more past the east bank, but everywhere west of the river should be clear for now."

Next to Jaune, Ren was muttering. "The river? All the way to the Blue Ribbon?"

Coral replied to the maybe White Fang member. "And have you reconsidered your decision to leave?"

He let out a short bark of laughter, out that seemed completely devoid of any amusement. "Oh no, with all the Grimm gone this place will get awfully boring. Plus, if I stuck around much longer I'd probably eat you all out of house and home. No, better for everyone if I get going."

"We made you a going away gift." Cerul blurted out; almost like she hadn't been sure she wanted to say it. "It's just a pack with some clothes and those apple slices you said you liked. It's over at Viridian's house."

"Hmm." The black haired Faunus didn't look pleased by that but he didn't seem offended either. It was like it didn't matter to him one way or another. "I'll swing by there then on my way out."

"You're leaving right now?" Coral asked, the slight surprise in her voice the most emotion Jaune had seen from her.

"Yeah. I try not to linger." The Faunus was turning to leave when Ren stepped forward.

"You saved this village from the Grimm?"

The Faunus turned back. "Yeah, I guess."

"Then thank you." Ren bowed at the waist. "I owe you a great debt."

"Uh yeah, you're welcome." The Faunus scratched under one of his ears. He shifted awkwardly. "Anyway, time I was getting gone. I'll see you guys around, I guess." He rose and blasted off into the air, rapidly becoming a speck in the horizon. Professor Port stared after him with an uncharacteristic frown on his face.

"I believe you were leaving as well." Coral said archly. "No doubt you are very busy."

Jaune looked at the sullen and unhappy faces staring out at them. No, they were not welcome here. Not one bit. Professor Port must have felt the same way, as he raised the pilot on the radio and told him to bring the airship back around.

Ren spoke quietly to Cerul. "I'm sorry I wasn't here."

"You made your choices, Ren." She answered him just as softly. "If this isn't what you wanted, you have only yourself to blame."

Ren didn't have an answer for that.

When he had been a kid, Jaune had seen Huntsmen as heroes, champions, people that were respected. It was why he wanted to be one. But, he reminded himself, it's what you do that gets you respect, not what you are. And even by the time the bullhead roared back over their heads, Jaune couldn't think of one reason why someone who was repairing flowerbeds while people fought for their lives deserved respect.

* * *

General James Ironwood looked out from his personal box at the opening matches of the Vital Tournament. Brilliant displays of personal prowess from the young people of Remnant, broadcast around the world seamlessly through the CCT network, taking place in the most advanced facility ever created, and defended by top of the line combat droids. Each element was a testimony to humanity's ingenuity, determination, and capability to achieve greatness. Even the logistics of arranging the Vytal Festival would seem an insurmountable difficulty to many people, yet the whole thing flowed without so much as a hiccup.

"General Ironwood! Sir!"

James sighed. _Of course._ He turned to face one of his lieutenants, a young man named Lloyd whose excitable temperament was a marker of his lack of real combat experience. Still, he was an adept administrator and leader and thus far had handled the security detail of the Festival without incident. Something James strongly suspected had changed. "What is it?"

"We've found him, sir!"

"Who?" James' mind immediately went to the absent Qrow, who had been out of touch so long they had begun to suspect the worst. He then thought of Amber's mysterious attacker, who they hadn't seen so much as a trace of ever since that dreadful day. But of course, Lloyd couldn't possibly mean either of them. To James' men, Qrow was just another Huntsmen and the attacker didn't even exist. James had argued the value in informing his men to keep a look out for the trio, but Ozpin had spoken against it. It would raise too many questions, he had said.

"The missing White Fang member we were warned to look out for." Lloyd reported. "He's infiltrated the colosseum, I suspect in preparation for some kind of terrorist attack. I have a team standing by to engage."

James held out a hand and was given Lloyd's data slate. He quickly compared the security footage from the colosseum with the images the surveillance systems had picked up during the breach incident. There was no doubt, this was the same man.

"Just give the order and we'll take him into custody." Lloyd said with the eagerness of someone who could stand to lose a fight or two.

"No." James said while staring at footage. He was a bold one, this White Fang. Walking around the colosseum bold as brass, like he owned the place. James looked up and saw Lloyd's incredulous face. "With an enemy this powerful, attempting to bring him in in such a public space with inevitably result in civilian casualties. We need to wait for him to enter a more secluded area first. Keep an eye on him and have squads ready to move in the second he does anything suspicious, but be sure to keep them out of sight. The last thing we want is to spook him, who knows what he'll do when he thinks himself cornered."

"Yes sir." Lloyd was already issuing orders as he made for the elevator. James allowed himself another second of looking out upon the tournament before turning away. Humanity's accomplishments have always required brave souls to defend them. James prayed his familiar plea that he not be found wanting.

* * *

Mato walked along the outer areas of the flying colosseum, just another face in the crowd. He had to give credit where it was due; this was an impressive display of technology. Making the massive structure fly seemed a bit excessive but maybe the point had been to show off. Still, this place wasn't exactly secure. Mato had been able to infiltrate it just by body flickering through the check point at an entrance.

When Cerul had mentioned the existence of this "Vytal Festival" Mato had been interested. A collection of some of the best fighters on Remnant all competing for glory and nationalistic pride. Mato might be able to learn a little more about Remnant combat styles by observing the fights; if nothing else the humans fumbling around would be good for a laugh. Judging by the cheers, a fight was already in progress.

Mato followed the crowd around a corner and could now see into the seating at the end of this passageway, as well as the massive screen on the opposite end of the stadium. He watched the screen, as a team waved to the crowd and a bombastic announcer praised their victory. Judging by what Mato assumed to be Aura meters on the screen, they had won rather handedly.

Mato stood there, watching, deliberating, for a long moment. He started to walk forward; the walk sped up into a jog which sped up into a run. At the end of the passageway his final step propelled him forward, over the heads of the audience and into the arena itself. He landed in the center of the ring, about ten meters from the winning team.

"Hi." Mato said, straightening up from his landing crouch.

"Long time no see." He continued, savoring the look on Cinder Fall's face.

* * *

AN: Ha _ha_! Ya'll thought I was just gonna follow along the canon plot, didn't ya? You set em up and then you throw em the curveball, outta nowhere.

This last chapter was a bitch and a half, and trying to write it during exam season didn't do wonders for my writing speed. Ah well, no one said writing a crossover between a contemporary American animation and a Japanese series over twenty years was going to be easy. That's not true they all said that.

Since Mato can't remember anything from his transformed rampage, I'll just fill in some of the blanks for you here. The White Fang tried to fight him off with the paladins, but Matozaru quickly reduced them to so much scrap. Adam returned at some point and was the one to cut Mato's cheek like that. Mato retaliated and badly injured Adam, but some of his lackeys were able to drag him from the area still alive. With everyone running for their lives, the Oozaru stomped off into the wilderness.


	7. Saiyan Warrior

**Chapter 7: Saiyan Warrior**

"All teams, prepare to go." James took the stairs to the commentator's booth two at a time. "Move on my signal."

He burst into the booth and issued quick orders to the pimply technician in the corner to cut the broadcast while surveying the arena floor from the elevated vantage point. Mato was still standing where he had landed, but James didn't expect that to last long. He didn't know what the terrorist's plan was, issue threats, make examples of the students down there with him, and he didn't intend to find out.

"All teams, g-"

"Hold."

James turned at the voice as calm as still water to see Ozpin standing in the corner, his hand gently restraining the technician's and preventing him from cutting the feed. James opened his mouth to object, only to be stilled by Ozpin raising his other hand. With infuriating slowness, the older man led the young technician from the room and shut the door behind him. Finally, he spoke.

"If we treat this as a commotion, there will be no way to calm the public after. This is the Vytal Festival, if they aren't safe when surrounded by your soldiers and drones they will never feel safe in the relative defenselessness of their own homes."

James glanced at the two Huntsmen teachers still seated at the announcers seats. Apparently Ozpin trusted them enough to let them in on this conversation. He wouldn't challenge that decision, he had other ones to get to first. "Are you serious? They won't feel safe when a terrorist murders people on global television without anyone raising a finger to stop him either. We need to stop him, _now_."

Instead of responding to him, Ozpin turned to face one of his teachers. "Bart, what do you think?"

James recalled that the man in question had been the one to fight Mato as he answered Ozpin's question. "This man is clearly dangerous, and allowing him to act as he pleases would most likely end badly. He is liberal with violence and has a clear disregard for the lives of others."

"Does he?" Ozpin asked quietly.

Ironwood was rapidly losing his patience. "He participated in a violent terror attack on the city." He reminded Ozpin.

"He also went out of his way to save the life of his enemy." Ozpin turned to look down into the arena. "He has proven benign in the past. We should not be so quick to judge him a threat before he even does anything."

James was not convinced. "So you think we should just watch and wait. Do nothing, just like at Mountain Glenn. Not happening. I will not risk innocent lives on nothing but your hunches." His hand went to his comm piece, to issue his orders.

Ozpin turned back around and looked him dead in the eye with utmost seriousness. "James. Please. Trust me."

James's hand paused on the talk switch. For a very long moment, he weighed his options.

* * *

Cinder's face was calm now, with an expression of mild confusion and concern, but for a split second there she had been absolutely seething with rage. Mato couldn't help his predatory grin; she knew she was cornered now. Truth be told this colosseum wouldn't have been Mato's first choice for a battlefield either. The ring itself was fine; the scenery had dropped below to leave nothing but a flat surface. However, they were currently surrounded by lots of people in all directions, people who would no doubt have all kinds of _opinions_ about what Mato was here to do.

"What are you doing here?" Emerald demanded of him. For half a second the fury returned to Cinder's face before she caught herself. Mato's eyes flicked up to the crowd behind the four of them, Cinder's cohort standing relatively close together and Neo on the outside as if she was debating making a break for it. Emerald had just admitted they knew him and Cinder wasn't happy about that. It seemed she was more concerned about the crowd's opinion than Mato was. Interesting.

"Why do you think?" Mato spread his hands in a questioning gesture. "The train was your plan and it was a suicide mission. Which means when you sent me there, you were trying to kill me." As if from far away, he heard the sharp crack. Mato banished the memory and shrugged. "It's only fair that I kill you in return."

"I'm afraid I have no idea what you're talking about." Cinder said, obviously not trusting the others to speak. "Perhaps-"

"I'm about to kill you." Mato cut her off. "You should stop worrying about what _they_ think," he made an expansive wave to the crowd. "And be a lot more worried about _me._ "

Mercury started to walk forward with his usual cocky swagger. "Why should we be? You're nothing but a dumb animal we picked for our plan. And if you're going to get in the way, there's only one response to that."

Mercury lashed out with a kick. Mato drew back and it passed through where his head had been, but his counterattack was stalled by a distinct sense of wrongness. He couldn't say what, but something was definitely not right. Mercury attacked with another kick that Mato dodged as well but this time he figured it out. There was no wind, no disturbance in the air currents that Mercury's kick should have generated. Fighting against years of ingrained instincts, Mato let the third kick slam into his head. It didn't, however, and instead just passed right through him.

Mato scowled. This shouldn't have surprised him one bit. "More tricks and deception? Do you even have a _shred_ of honor or pride?"

He thrust out his hand and hit Mercury's chest with a satisfying thump. The cocky little shit was thrown backward to join the other three. Mato's hand glowed with energy and he released a ki blast. Not a strong one, but enough to rattle them up. They moved fast, at least, three of them did. Emerald was oddly sluggish and the blast clipped her shoulder. Having made contact, it then exploded.

Even before the dust had settled, Mercury charged out of the cloud and attacked, this time for real. Mato bent like a reed in the wind and avoided all the kicks without moving from where he stood. He would have kept it up a little longer but Cinder was making a break for an exit. He kicked Mercury back, taking care to send him flying into Emerald who had just gotten back on her feet, and body flickered over to cut Cinder off.

"Going somewhere?" He challenged.

She met his challenge by whipping her hand around and unleashing a blinding flash. Mato recoiled from the pain in his eyes, but he recovered quickly and even though his vision was shot his nose worked fine. He punched at the center of her scent and was rewarded with the still bizarre feel of the human energy barrier as he knocked her back to join her subordinates. The spots from his vision slowly cleared and he saw the three of them regrouping in the center of the arena. Neo had vanished from sight, not that Mato particularly cared about what happened to her.

Their many many faults aside, Mercury and Emerald were not cowards. They both rushed him, Emerald firing from her weapons as they ran. Mato met their charge with one of his own, closing the distance and seizing the initiative. He opened with a quick punch to Mercury's face, throwing the acrobatic fighter off balance. Emerald's guns changed into blades, but before she could do anything with them Mato drove an elbow into her gut. Mercury recovered and kicked at Mato's head. Mato ducked under the leg and kicked Mercury's other leg out from underneath him, knocking him to the ground. Mato caught Emerald's wrist as she tried to slash at him and hurled her up and over his head to slam her down onto her comrade. Before the two of them could get up, He blasted them with enough power to make them feel it.

Mato was spared having to beat on the fallen by a trio of odd, crystalline arrows fired at him. He smashed them with a few quick blows before turning his attention to Cinder, who was now holding a bow.

"Still not willing to get your hands dirty." Mato said mockingly. He swept a wave of ki ahead of him, one wide enough that when she tried to leap to the side she was still caught up in it. He would have pursued her further, but his attention was grabbed by Emerald staggering to her feet. Her earlier confidence and fierceness had evaporated, leaving behind fear.

"How's it feel to be the rat?" Mato asked her as he stepped forward. Emerald withdrew from him a step. Mato stepped forward again and she matched him with yet another step back. Her nerve finally broke and she turned to run, but Mato cut her off with a body flicker. A punch to the gut forced the air out of her lungs. She didn't even try to avoid the second punch aimed at her face. When Mato hit her, there was that odd shimmer Mato remembered from his fight with Bartholomew and she dropped to the ground like a puppet with its strings cut. This time, she didn't get back up.

Mercury, on the other hand, was back on his feet though he was staggering a bit. His eyes burned with desperation just as Emerald's had, but instead of fear he showed rage.

"I'm not gonna die here." He spat. "I'll kill you first."

"Keep telling yourself that." Mato replied.

Mercury launched a clumsy kick. This time instead of dodging Mato caught his foot with his right hand, the explosive shell detonating against his palm. He yanked, pulling Mercury in. Mato's left hand came down on his ankle, intending to break the leg. But instead of the crack of breaking bone, there was a metallic crunch. Confused, Mato struck again and severed the leg entirely, Mercury falling onto the ground. Mato pulled the remains of the pant leg off to see he was holding on to a cybernetic ankle and foot.

"Mercury, you should have said something." Mato admonished the stricken young man hoisting himself up with his arms. "If I had known you were a cripple, I'd have been more gentle." He flipped the leg in the air and caught it by its end. He swung it around and slammed the foot into Mercury's head like a hammer, knocking him unconscious. Like with Emerald, there was that shimmering around his body. Mato discarded the metallic limb with distaste.

Cinder was all that was left. Mato body flickered to once again cut her off from the exit she was making for. He had slipped into flight while he moved, and remained in the air so he could quite literally look down at her.

"Running away again? There's a limit to how shameless a person can be." Mato lectured her.

For her part, Cinder once again tried to look blameless. "I'm telling you, I never did anything to you. There's no reason for this violence." She held her hands out like she was pleading, though Mato noted they were also positioned so she could guard her face and torso in a snap if needed.

Mato shook his head. "You're a shit liar." Cinder began to say something but he spoke over her. "If you were really so innocent, you'd be more angry or worried about your friends I just worked over. 'Course, that would require compassion and you can't even fake that, can you?"

He darted in and threw a punch. As expected, her arms blocked his fist. Unexpectedly, she was also smart enough to loose her footing and let the force behind the blow harmlessly propel her backwards instead of having to weather it. She skidded to a stop in the center of the arena, unharmed. Something occurred to Mato.

"Is Cinder Fall your real name?" Names were important to saiyans, Cinder liked to lie and deceive, it was a valid question.

"I'm done talking." Cinder answered.

Mato ignored the scornful reply and explained. "Where I'm from, people give their names before they fight. It's so the loser knows who to seek out for a rematch, or at least knows who sent them to hell." He feigned a realization. "Actually, scratch that. I don't need to know your name; you just need to know mine."

Conscious of the eyes of everyone in the colosseum on him, Mato pointed a thumb at his chest. "I am Mato, the saiyan warrior. And I came here to give you an express trip to hell." The lie slipped so easily between his lips that for half a second Mato believed it himself.

"Enough." Cinder said, her voice low and dangerous. Her mask of innocence had been completely abandoned. "I've had it with your posturing and your arrogance. I'll show you what _real_ power is."

Her right eye burned with power, flaring into a spike that hung on her face. Mato's instincts hissed a warning, she was more of a threat than he had guessed. He readied his ki to shift around his body as needed and took a fighting stance. Cinder thrust a hand at him and a massive blast of fire shot at him. Mato could dodge it, but behind him was… Screw it. When your feet are wet, might as well jump in, right? He raised a hand, his fingers forming a blade shape, and flooded the arm with ki.

"Oni Gun." Mato said, as he fired a blast of ki that collided with and exploded Cinder's fireball. Cinder's eyes widened in surprise, but it was quickly overtaken by rage. She waved her arms about and a flurry of burning arrows fanned out through the air and closed in on him. Too many targets, too fast to shoot down one at a time. So… "Cleaving Sky." Mato swept his hand in front of his body and a wave of invisible rippled outward, the arrows exploding as they ran into it.

With a snarl, Cinder pressed her hands into the floor. Fire pulsed under her palms and shot off along the ground towards Mato, resembling lava more than anything else. Instead of directly attacking him, the lava formed a circle around him before surging up to engulf him from all sides. It would have been child's play to evade it by taking to the air, but Mato had gotten oddly invested in standing his ground. "Bell Barrier." He clapped his hands together as if in prayer and a bubble of ki surrounded him. The lava swelled and surged all around him, but it could not penetrate the deceptively sturdy barrier. He twisted his hands and the bubble exploded outward, blowing away all the lava as well.

Mato stared down the increasingly incensed Cinder, grinning. So this is what fighting with twenty weapons was like rather than four. He should have started using all these techniques ages ago. His ki flowed around him as he readied himself to repel Cinder's next attack.

* * *

As James watched the fierce battle, some dispassionate part of himself was impressed at both the immense power each combatant wielded and the wide variety of abilities and techniques they used that power for. Mostly though, he was preoccupied with self-recrimination.

"I can't believe that after all this time she was right here under our noses." He said, careful to remain vague due to the presence of Professors Port and Oobleck. Though James understood them to be loyal and dependable Huntsmen, secrets did not remain such if you babbled them out around other people.

The wisdom of his discretion was proven by Port quickly divining the significance of even the little he had said. "You mean to say she really was responsible for the recent breach?" He asked, referencing the "Saiyan Warrior's" accusations.

"I would say it is abundantly clear that this is no ordinary student." That was a classic Ozpin answer. It sounded like he was contributing, but when you thought about it he wasn't saying anything that wasn't blatantly obvious. James didn't mind the tendency here, where preserving the secret of the Maidens was a high priority, but it got pretty grating when he did it during inner circle meetings where they were supposed to all be cooperating.

"Indeed." Oobleck said. The normally hyperactive man had been staring intently at the White Fang member for the entirety of the fight. "Mato did not use any of the wide variety of techniques he is using now against me in our battle, yet I was defeated anyway while she is still holding her own."

"Not entirely." Ozpin said, giving James a significant look. "I would say she is slowly being overwhelmed."

Now that James thought about it, that was true. Cinder's attacks were getting more and more wild and the strain was beginning to show on her face. Mato, on the other hand, gave no indication his store of power wasn't endless. The significance wasn't lost on James. A Maiden's weakness had always been the fleshy body underneath the titanic, landscape altering powers. For someone to get into the equivalent of an energy arm wrestling match and be winning, even against only half a Maiden, was unbelievable.

"You still think we should sit back?" He asked Ozpin sharply. That kind of power, from either of them, couldn't be allowed to run around unchecked. The entire colosseum and everyone in it could be destroyed if their battle got too out of hand.

But Ozpin just looked at him with his usual calm expression. "I'm curious as to what you think we could do to stop them." He made a placating gesture with his free hand. "We only have one chance to make our move, it would be best if we waited until they have tried each other out first. Then we can move in and bring them both into custody."

Still, despite what he said James noticed that the hand holding his cane was clenched so tightly the knuckles had turned white.

* * *

"Caro Cannon!" Mato shot down another fireball. He was burning through ki at a somewhat alarming rate. The advanced techniques he was using had all been invented by people with much more ki than he had and he was using them rather liberally. He was overpowering attacks that would easy to evade for no reason other than stubbornness. This wasn't sustainable, he knew. Luckily, Cinder was tiring even faster than he was. Mato had been expecting her other eye to light up and her to begin fighting back even stronger with a renewed supply of energy, but it seemed this really was the extent of her powers.

And Cinder knew it too. The more the fight dragged on the more her composure crumbled. Not only did her attacks become more and more wild, her expression had a similar deterioration. At one point she was _growling_ at him, like an animal. In other words, she was ripe for some mockery.

"I can keep this up all day, Cinder!" Mato shouted as he blasted away a lasso of fire. "So why don't you spare us all this pathetic display and just give up and die already!"

Cinder snarled, unleashing a river of flames. "Oni Gun." Mato raised a hand and fired a beam of ki. The two blasts collided and struggled against one another, a direct match of his power and hers. As they struggled, Cinder seethed.

"Who do you think you are!?" She demanded of him. "You think you _matter_? You don't! You're just some idiotic thug who punches his way through life. You have no idea who you're messing with, the plans you're trying to interfere with. How _dare_ a meathead like you get in my way!?"

"Even if any of that were true," Mato flooded his arm with ki. His blast surged in power and drove Cinder's back, forcing her to dive out of its path. Mato smirked. "I'd still rather be an idiot than be dead."

Cinder got back on her feet. "I'll make you both." She held her hands out in front of her body, palms facing each other and about six inches apart. Fire began to coalesce between her hands, streams of flames flowing into an ever denser fireball. Mato watched Cinder gather her power with interest. He could quite easily zip around behind her, kick her in the back, and let the compressed flames explode in her face. But he had been meeting her blast for blast their entire battle and he didn't feeling like stopping now. Instead, Mato pointed his index and middle finger of his left hand. A ball of ki spun into existence above his fingers. Unlike for every other technique he had used thus far, Mato didn't say its name. It was his own technique, and he had never given it one.

Cinder's fireball was ready. "Die!" She thrust out her hands and the compacted ball of flames shot towards him. Mato drew back his hand and whipped it forward, sending his attack to meet it. The two orbs of energy shot towards one another, only for Mato's ki to pass over Cinder's flames by about a foot.

The fireball slammed into Mato and exploded. His corner of the arena became a raging firestorm. His own ball of energy passed over Cinder's head. She permitted herself a grin, enjoying her enemy's defeat. A noise made her turn, and with what little was left of her Maiden powers she rocketed into the air. Mato's energy ball, having changed directions midflight, slammed into the ground where she had been standing. The explosion knocked Cinder out of the sky and she tumbled onto the ground.

She lifted her head off the ground in a hurry, peering over at where Mato was. When nothing stirred or moved within the smoke she slowly picked herself up and stood. She had feared for a second he had impossibly survived a direct hit of her strongest attack. But looking now, she could see a dark blur lying on the ground within the cloud of slowly clearing miasma. No, his attack must have preprogrammed to turn around, explaining why it didn't home in on her, and the fool had simply overestimated his durability.

Cinder let out a long, slow breath as her eyes wandered up to the audience. She allowed herself a second to catch her breath and gather her thoughts before addressing the real problem. She had just publically outed herself as a Maiden, and while most people wouldn't realize what that meant, everyone who mattered would be gunning for her now. That left with her a choice to make. She could spin a story about being the poor victim of a mad Faunus, let racism do a lot of the work for her there, and stay in the public eye for a while. That would keep her protected from any attempts to recover the Maiden powers through public attention making it impossible for her to "disappear". That would also make it impossible to complete the plan in any meaningful way. Or she could vanish back into the shadows and try her luck with avoiding Ozpin and Ironwood's reprisal.

Either way, she should probably tend to Emerald and Mercury. The sheep would find it strange if she didn't seem to care about them at all. Whatever she decided to do, it would be important to preserve her public-.

"Reaping Claws."

Cinder had about half a second to defend herself. It wasn't enough time.

Mato's hand tore through Cinder's side.

The woman collapsed to the floor, blood pooling beneath her. Mato straightened up out of his crouch; he had attacked at such a high speed, it had taken him a bit to stop. He turned around to look back at Cinder. She was laying there, one hand pressed into her wound, the other vainly trying to pull her along the ground.

Mato scowled. The Reaping Claws technique was done by concentrating ki into the tips of your fingers, forming little "blades", and using them like, well, claws. He had intended for his attack to tear her body into two. Her aura must have blunted enough of his strike to let her survive it. Well, whatever. This just gave him the chance for some parting words.

As Mato walked over to Cinder's limply struggling body, he noticed a change in the crowd. For most of the battle they had been watching with excitement, treating the brawl as if it had been just another match. Now, however, their murmurs were cowed. They looked worried, some looked sick, others were hurriedly making their way to the exits. Mato blocked them all out. He was almost finished. He hooked a foot under Cinder's body and flipped her over onto her back. She let out a gasp of pain and stared up at him. Her rage was gone, replaced with incredulity.

"How?" She forced out between pained breaths.

"How?" Mato repeated. "You're a witch that lies and twists people to do your dirty work. Your kind can only ever live in the shadows spinning your webs, and you stepped out into the light. It's only natural that a _thug_ would tear your web to shreds and make short work of you."

Blood dripped down from his hand to the floor. Mato half glanced down at it, then raised his other hand to point down at Cinder. A ball of ki formed in his palm.

"If you get another time around," He said, words laced with disdain, "remember to know your place and you might live a little longer."

"That's enough." A firm voice declared. Mato looked up from his victim to see he was now surrounded by men and robots, all pointing guns at him. All but one, that is. The speaker stood with his hands behind his back, dressed in a far more ornate uniform than his dozen some odd soldiers. Something gave Mato the impression that even unarmed this one was more dangerous than all his minions put together.

"Surrender." The speaker said evenly.

Mato considered that, his hand and ki blast still pointing at Cinder. "No?" Beneath him, Cinder made a move to crawl away. Without looking away from the leader of the soldiers, Mato stamped down on Cinder's chest and pinned her to the floor.

The commander narrowed his eyes. "You _will_ stand down. Your violent altercation is over."

"I disagree." Mato replied. He waved his free hand. "I believe I mentioned she and her pawns tried to kill me. The way I see it, this isn't over until I return the favor."

The soldiers were beginning to look nervous, hands clenched tightly around their weapons. Their leader, in contrast, remained cool as a cucumber. "We've heard your accusations. They will be addressed in a court of law, not settled through some vicious grudge match. You and she will both be taken into custody and tried for you crimes. Now stand. Down."

Mato was about to retort when he noticed the image of himself on the large screen display overlooking the arena. Clothes torn and burnt, standing in a slowly spreading pool of blood, and about to vaporize a completely helpless enemy. The noise of the crowd filled the air, hesitant, nervous, worried. Mato looked down at Cinder and saw that her anger and smugness were both completely gone. The only emotion left on her face was fear, fear and pain. Another drop of blood fell from his hand, this one landing on her skin.

"Fine." Mato spat the word out. "Take her sorry ass." He slipped his foot around Cinder's body and kicked her at the commander. The older man easily caught her with one arm and handed her off to a pair of his soldiers, who quickly carried her away. He returned his steely gaze to Mato. "I'll have to refuse your generous offer of imprisonment." Mato continued. "You can do whatever you want with her, I don't care anymore. But I've got better things to do than hang around a lockup, even if you could hold me." He gave a jaunty wave. "Bye."

Mato took for the sky, pouring all of his power into pure vertical velocity. As soon as he cleared the edge of the colosseum and was back in the open air, he turned and gunned for the city. He cut off his ki as he neared the building, dispersing the flare of energy that would make tracking him a cakewalk. He retained just enough to land safely, then he set off on foot. He zigged, he zagged, he juked all over the city at high enough speeds that passerby couldn't even see him. Eventually he reached the industrial district and his headlong flight petered off. He finally came to a stop in a deserted alley and sank behind a dumpster, panting. A full out sprint after a taxing battle was a little too much exertion for him.

After he had caught his breath, Mato checked to make sure he was alone. No one was visible from his spot and the windows of the buildings on either side of him were dark. Satisfied that he was indeed alone, Mato took a look at his right hand. His blistered, burned, and bleeding right hand. It looked worse than it felt. Speaking of how it felt, Mato let out a low hiss of pain and tried to flex his fingers. They responded well enough, his hand didn't have any serious damage to it. It still hurt like a bastard though. Blocking that massive fireball solely with his right hand had not been a great idea, but it couldn't have been helped. He needed his left to control his technique. That had almost gone badly when the initial pain from Cinder's attack had almost made his lose his grip on the ki ball.

Mato leaned back and rested his head on the wall behind him. He sighed. After all the ruckus he had caused, it probably would be best if he holed up for now. When the cover of darkness was on his side, he could move about more freely. But for now, he could do with a bit of rest.

Mato closed his eyes and settled in for a nap and tried to ignore how his stomach was growling.

* * *

 **AN:** Welp, there you have it. It's simple math when you break it down, Saiyan Maiden/2.

 **Reviewer Responses:** Jackalope89: Boy was she.

Kaioo: About that...

Shadow Joestar: Oh he definitely made an impression. If by impression you mean grievous injuries.

spurlinpatricksean2: The good guys know Cinder's true nature now. As for what the general public thinks, you'll have to wait for the next chapter.

KINGREADER: Keep in mind that the main reason people live in the wilds is they already don't like kingdoms and those who live there. As for expecting Huntsmen to drop everything and protect people from Grimm, that is kinda the whole point of them in the first place.

Raos: Remnant's moon has a weird orbit. Unlike our moon, the face of it isn't always the same side. As it orbits it turns, meaning it gradually looks less shattered until it looks full, then looks more and more shattered as it keeps coming around. I'm not 100% on the science behind that, but that's what it is.

SuperSaiyajin4Vegeta: It's Speedfor, I mean, Dust, I don't have to explain shit.

shadows being: I'd like to think I would know, but so far I've had my share of surprises. I would have said Neo would have gone down against Mato like the rest, but she was outta there.

Guest: There's easy and there's "it ought to take less than two weeks".

Other Guest: No one did, no. The White Fang warcamps are pretty far from the eyes of the kingdom, so no one from Vale spotted up what happened. Though the pilot that flew JNPR to Mist Village did notice a lot of knocked down trees.


	8. Unexpected Enemy

**Chapter 8: Unexpected Enemy**

"I've said it before and I'll say it again, this was a show. A performance, done by prepared actors and arranged by the tournament organizers, that got out of hand."

"And I've said it before, that's ridiculous."

"Why else would the Atlas troops wait so long to stop the fight?"

 _Click._

"-had asked me five days ago whether she was guilty, I would have said no. But after going back over the footage and looking more closely at her behavior, I think she could quite easily have-"

 _Click._

"The name "Saiyan" is clearly a derivative of "Saiyajin", the name of a nomadic tribe that lived in the deserts to the southeast of Vacuo. The tribe was reportedly wiped out by Grimm nearly two centuries ago, yet-"

 _Click._

"Everyone is jumping the gun here by making assumptions about guilt and innocence in what is quite literally a he said she said situation."

 _Click._

"What we're seeing is yet another example of Atlas's heavy handed approach to civil unrest. Based solely on an accusation from someone clearly mentally ill, they had decided to detain this young girl with no consideration for her civil liberties. Now, they _say-_ "

 _Click._

James lowered the remote after turning the television off. "As you can see, public opinion is divided on the incident during the tournament. No one knows what to think about either Mato or Cinder, or _us_ for that matter."

He stood in Ozpin's office with the man himself seated behind his desk. Glynda stood off to the side, prim and proper as always. Qrow, the Huntsman finally returned from his long absence, leaned against the wall with his arms folded. Of James' three co-conspirators (that was what they were, no matter how the admission disappointed him), the perpetually drunk man was the only one who seemed amused by the situation.

It had been five days since the battle at Vytal Festival. The tournament had been suspended and ultimately canceled in the wake of the public uproar over the bloody duel within the colosseum. There had been so much to do to handle a captured Maiden and her accomplices, with the need to maintain appearances all the while, that James had not been able to meet with the others up until now.

James continued his report. "The decision to keep from intervening," his eyes flickered over to Ozpin, inscrutable as always "has kept the public from becoming alarmed and fearful from the battle, but we trade that for uncertainty and suspicion. If you ask ten different people you'll get ten different answers and a large number of them involve accusing us."

Mostly _him_ , he knew. Atlas' reputation had never been sterling but in recent years it had gotten downright villainous. James knew the rumors, everything from illegal weapons experiments to plans to take over the other kingdoms. It'd be less depressing if most of them didn't have grains of truth embedded in them. Doctor Polendina might be satisfied with his 'daughter' but the project had always had larger aspirations than that and Ozpin's precious guardian creating Aura transfer machine only didn't break laws left and right because no one knew those laws even needed to exist yet.

"An unfortunate situation." Glynda said. From the wall, Qrow snorted.

"Not really. People like thinking the guys in power are scumbags. Helps them believe everything is the way it ought to be."

Glynda scowled at him. "Your cynicism isn't appreciated here."

James despite himself was nodding in agreement. "No, he's right. One of the best outcomes of this situation is everyone assuming this was exactly what it appeared to be. An attempt at revenge by a powerful faunus on an enemy of his, with our reaction delayed because we were being incompetent. The public is already predisposed to believe the worst about us anyway and this avoids certain questions."

"Speaking of questions," Glynda began. "What's been done with Miss Fall?" The stern teacher looked as though she suspected an answer she did not want to hear but was willing to accept.

"For the moment she's being held in a special Aura dampening cell." Another one of those experiments James got so much flak for. Even now that it was proven to be useful, he wasn't expecting any apologies. "With the amount of public interest in this whole mess, regrettably we can't just cut her throat and shunt the Maiden powers back into Amber. Still, it will be pretty easy to manipulate a trial and get her sent to prison for life. From there we'll have more flexibility."

When James had been starting out as a Huntsman, he hadn't expected nearly as much blatant political corruption to be part of his job. Glynda looked a bit disgusted at the bluntness of his plan. Considering it was in essence waiting until they could murder Cinder without it causing too much trouble, he didn't blame her. Qrow merely looked resigned to the necessity of it all and Ozpin's expression was unreadable as usual.

"You're sure she's being held safely?" Qrow asked, taking a swig from his flask. "There was one of her group that got away, and it's not like the Cult is only four people strong."

"She's being guarded by my best operatives, and within the cell even a Maiden can't use their powers." The security wasn't as tight as he would prefer, but it was the best he could do without dragging her back to Atlas or taking her down to the vaults. The former wasn't an option given she needed to stand trial in Vale and the latter was a bad idea in numerous ways. "I have my men keeping an eye out for her accomplice that escaped the colosseum as well."

"Given how you managed to completely miss Cinder when she was right under your noises," Qrow said, James fully aware that 'you' meant him and his troops as opposed to the other people in the room. "I'm not really reassured."

James frowned. He knew this was going to come up sooner or later. "Maybe if we had been given a description more specific than 'pale skin and dark hair' we could have been more effective. What did you expect, for us to round up the several thousand people that covered?"

"What worries me," Glynda headed off the argument before it could truly get going. "Is what about Amber? Even imprisoned, Cinder still might be able to hijack the remaining half of the Maiden's power from her."

"Amber's condition is largely stable and even if she did… pass away," James had only ever met Amber a few times, but she had been a close friend to the other three. "The cell should be capable of holding even a full Maiden."

"Should?" Qrow asked pointedly.

James spread his hand in a 'what could I do' gesture. "I haven't exactly ever needed to imprison a Maiden before." The cell's specifications would indicate it could restrain Cinder, but that was ultimately guesswork, after all.

"And what of Mato?" Ozpin asked, his first contribution to the conversation. The headmaster's question wasn't directed to anyone in particular and he was looking at his own folded hands. It was a good question though. James had been doing a lot of thinking about that young man in the past few days. A warrior at least half as powerful as a Maiden with no discernable origin or goals was a troubling prospect to say the least.

"What about him?" Qrow asked. "He nearly killed someone on global television then vanished like a fart in the wind. Unless the general has offered him a job under the table, we have no idea where he is or what he wants."

Glynda primly adjusted her glasses. "According to Bart, he was fully complicit in the recent White Fang terror attack. However, Peter claims he defended a village from prolonged Grimm attacks, so it is unlikely that he is solely driven to attack humanity like many other members of the White Fang."

James had his own theories. "Most likely he is a Faunus from the wildlands. That would explain why we have never heard of someone of this power. He came to the kingdom, was seduced by the lies regarding Faunus treatment and joined the White Fang to 'make a difference'. He defended the village because he has a soft spot for his fellow wildlanders, that's all."

Glynda frowned at him. "Do you really think the Faunus have no cause for complaint about the atrocious ways they are treated, in _your_ kingdom especially?"

There were few things James wanted to talk about _less_ at this moment than the Faunus Rights Movement. "Is that really relevant right now?" He asked, then continued before she could answer. "For that matter, his personal history is largely irrelevant as well. What matters is ensuring he isn't a threat to the peace."

"Do we know where we can find the guy?" Qrow asked. For all he criticized James and his men for being blunt instruments, it was clear he intended to remove the threat Mato posed with his sword.

James sadly shook his head. "At the speed we clocked him travelling, and with five days of potential travel time, even conservative estimates allow him to be anywhere in the world by now. Hopefully he'll slink back into obscurity and that will be the end of it."

"You ignoring what might be the most important thing of all." Ozpin replied. "Who _is_ he, and where did he come from?" He stood up out of his chair. "If we knew that, we would know what his plans are now and where that incredible power of his came from."

"I believe I already outlined the most likely answers to those questions." James said, trying to keep the irritation out of his voice.

Ozpin gave him that look that somehow always made him feel like a fool. "Then you believe that a boy younger than almost every student at this academy either possesses _two_ Semblances, or both has a supply of Aura greater than a dozen Huntsmen put together and has mastered controlling it in ways that take decades of training to utilize."

Put like that, it did seem rather implausible. "Well then, who do you think he is?"

There was a ghost of a smile on Ozpin's face. "He said it himself, did he not? He is a Saiyan Warrior."

"Yes, but that doesn't tell us anything." Glynda said, clearly sharing James' lack of comprehension.

"Doesn't it?" Ozpin asked. He sounded a little too much like he was talking to some of his students. "He said those words with significance. That was how he declared himself before the world."

"And what does that _mean_?" James asked, annoyed at getting the run around.

"He is a warrior. Warriors _fight_." Ozpin turned to stare out the window, hands clasped behind his back. "I feel we will be seeing more of this young man fairly soon."

From Ozpin's desk there came a chime. "Professor Ozpin?" Spoke the voice of a secretary. "A Mr. Eonwe is here to see you, he says you have an appointment regarding Academy Governance."

"Thank you Mary." Ozpin sat back down at his desk. He looked up at the rest of them as his hands grabbed various papers. "Our work must continue, public as well as private. I'm sure there are things you all need to attend to as well."

It rankled a little to be dismissed like that, James thought as he waited for Glynda and Qrow to board the elevator, but Ozpin was right. Running an army was hard enough, running a school was even tougher. And he wanted to get some people looking into the origin of the name 'Saiyan' while he was at it.

* * *

"Professor Honeysuckle, I have the final grade forms for the semester. I just need you to sign them."

"Leave them on the desk." The headmistress of Haven Academy was looking out over her school bathed in the orange of sunset.

There was a ruffling as Sol laid the stack of papers down, but not the sound of receding footsteps.

"Was there something else?"

There was a shuffling noise. Sol always stepped between his feet when he was upset. "Has there been any word about Cinder, Emerald, and Mercury?"

She turned around. Sol's big blue eyes were full of concern. "There have been no new developments." She told him. "They remain in the custody of General Ironwood's soldiers, pending formal charges be laid on them."

"That's not fair." Sol said immediately. "How can they even believe for one second that those sweet kids would be even remotely connected to something so horrid?"

Honeysuckle sat down behind her desk. "I intend to press the matter. I shall demand that Ironwood either present concrete evidence of his accusations or release our students immediately. Ozpin will be of help in that area, he is not fond of our colleague's presumptuous nature either."

Like the sun poking out from behind a cloud, Sol's constant smile returned. "That is good to hear. I'm sure the General's probably realized by now he has nothing to go on and just doesn't want to embarrass himself, but that's no excuse for treating innocent students the way he is."

"Mmhmm." Honeysuckle pretended to peruse the files he had brought her. "Was there anything else?"

"No ma'am. Have a good evening." She waited until the elevator doors had closed behind him before cracking into a sardonic grin. Those sweet kids. Only Sol would call them that. Mercury had once shoved him down a flight of stairs, which had broken the thoroughly normal Sol's arm. He had refused to believe it was anything other than an accident. Sol saw the good in everyone, even if it was only his own good reflecting back. And he had plenty of good to go around. Sol was perpetually optimistic, upbeat, and friendly. He never got angry and only rarely was sad. And never for his own sake, all sorrow Sol felt came from his sympathy for others.

It was enough to make Salem want to vomit.

Still, she liked keeping the man close. His complete lack of combat ability in every way made him incapable of defying her should her uncover any secrets. And his complete lack of duplicity meant he would never work against her without her knowledge. His constant happiness meant she knew her job was working whenever she saw him down, the most recent instance notwithstanding. He could run this school singlehandedly and often did. Her real calling required enough time spent on her part that she could not truly perform the duties of headmistress , something Sol was happy to do for her if she ever asked.

Speaking of her real calling, she needed to revise her plans. She would make the call to keep up appearances, but that was a lost cause. Now that they had found the dreaded Maiden drainer, Ozpin and his lackeys would never let her go. Cinder's defeat scrapped the original plan, to bring down Vale and make off with the Maiden powers. Something had scattered the White Fang to the wind and if Salem's information was accurate their oh so pliable leader was too broken to even stand at the moment. The Grimm concentrations around the city had been reduced, not drastically but enough that they would pose no threat to the kingdom on their own.

And Cinder was taken. The young woman had been such a useful tool. Intelligent, driven, powerful. She had amassed power and subordinates, formulated strategies to match the ever shifting situation, and been a hairs breadth from achieving their goal. She was largely irreplaceable. And then she had fallen to the fists of some random stranger who had fixated on some petty wrongdoing of hers. It was almost pathetic enough to be humorous.

Still, Salem had plenty of options on the table. She would have to return to the Shadowlands tonight, to reassess her Grimm. No one could replace Cinder, but perhaps she did not need to be replaced. _It's time I woke_ him _up._

* * *

Jaune flopped back onto his mattress. The bed had been stripped bare, as had every other part of the room. A small mountain of luggage waited by the door to be carted away. Jaune, who had just finished, was the last one to be packed up.

The end of the year. That he had even made it this far without being expelled was nothing short of a miracle. Before he had enrolled, Jaune had had no idea what he would be getting into. Forget expulsion, he came frighteningly close to being killed more than once. If it hadn't been for Pyrrha, he wouldn't have survived initiation.

Pyrrha. Jaune knew there was some reason he had fallen for Weiss at the start of the year, but for the life of him he couldn't think of what that was when he was with Pyrrha. The red haired girl was beautiful, strong, funny, and always happy to lend a hand. She was perfect, or as close to it as a person could get. Someday she was going to find someone who deserved her. Whoever he was, he'd be one lucky bastard.

Jaune sat up. He didn't have time to mope about his romance troubles; he was supposed to be going down to find the rest of his team as soon as he finished packing. Since Pyrrha was returning to Mistral and Ren was going back to his home village, they were going to spend their last night in Vale eating out at one of the best restaurants in town. And since it was the best restaurant in town, they had invited Team RWBY so a certain Schnee heiress could foot the bill. Jaune chuckled. Who would have thought Ren of all people would have a devious side?

He found his teammates hanging around the entrance to the dorms and they set off across the campus. As they walked, Nora chattered on about this thing and that as usual and as usual Jaune mostly tuned her out. As much as he liked the hyperactive hammer slinger, he didn't know how Ren kept up with her at all. It was only after the chatter ceased Jaune realized the question she had asked wasn't one she intended to answer herself within a few seconds and his eyes followed her pointing finger.

Beacon's practice courts, no longer in use due to the end of the year, were opened to students at Signal and other lower academies. The idea, Jaune believed, was to entice the younger students into coming to Beacon, liking the facility, and wanting to enroll there rather than going to another kingdom's school. At the moment a small group of people Jaune thought of as kids, despite them probably being older than Ruby and stronger than him, were having a sparring match. Watching from the entrance to the recessed arena was a man wearing a _very_ professional looking suit. If Jaune was any judge the tailoring on that suit was immaculate, the kind of clothes you wore to meet Vale's Council. But it was his face that drew the eye. With gray hair atop a face lined from age, he looked dignified, but also very old and a bit tired. No, not tired, more like weary. Jaune's immediate instinct was that this wasn't someone they should bother.

Nora disagreed. "Hey! Old guy over there!"

The old man turned surprised at the shout. "Ah, hello there." He greeted them as Nora bounded over and the rest of the group reluctantly followed.

"Whatcha doing?" Nora asked without preamble. The old man turned back to the practice courts.

"I was watching the practice."

This was not an acceptable answer to one Nora Valkyrie. "Why?"

A small, almost sad smile appeared on the old man's face. "It is encouraging to see young people striving to improve themselves. It motivates me not to be negligent in my own duty to this school and its students. Keeping this place stable and prosperous can be a trying task at times, sometimes I need a little reminder of why it is so important."

Unconsciously, Jaune straightened up a little. Was this man some kind of higher up at Beacon? He definitely wasn't a teacher and as far as Jaune knew Ozpin was at the top of the heap, but maybe the school had like a board of directors or something? Even just looking at him, Jaune got the sense this was a pretty important figure, whatever his job.

"That's creepy." Nora said bluntly. Jaune slapped a hand to his forehead behind her.

The old man slowed turned back to them, looking taken aback. "I beg your pardon?"

"An old dude hanging around and staring at kids is totally super creepy." Nora explained in her usual straightforward manner. It was impressive how she could manage to say something offensive without actually having any malice in her expression or tone. It was like she didn't realize what she would be taken as an insult.

Ren, as always, was there to smooth things over. "I'm very sorry." He sketched a quick half-bow of apology to the old man. "Nora, that was very rude." He began to reproach her.

The old man surprised them all by breaking into laughter. "I can see what you mean. From your perspective, I must seem quite 'creepy' indeed." He walked away, waving over his shoulder at them as he went. "Well then, I'll take my leave. I wouldn't want to unnerve anyone with my presence." He set off at a surprisingly quick pace for a man of his age.

Team JNPR watched him go. "Well," Said Jaune. "That was… odd."

Ren spoke up. "Guys, we'll need to hurry if we are to meet Ruby and the others on time."

Jaune put the old man out of his mind as they made their way to the lifts. The plan was to meet RWBY at the restaurant, so they would have to cross a large chuck of Vale to get there. Pyrrha had suggested they travel there on foot, to soak in the town one last time before they left, so they had some walking to do. It would actually be nice to get a chance to wander the city without getting into a fight, or having to fend off a Grimm invasion.

* * *

Mato aimlessly walked the streets of Vale, thinking about his life.

Not the sequence of events that had led to him being stranded on this miserable mudball, no. Mato had no intention of reliving those memories. The past is the past, why dwell on it? He was being mature, not refusing to own up to his mistakes.

Instead, Mato was thinking about his time on Remnant. He had done a lot since he had arrived months ago. Joined a revolutionary army, defeated what this planet considered a warrior, rampaged as an Oozaru, and took bloody revenge on what he had learned was global television. He'd been busy.

And what had he actually accomplished for all that? Well… nothing really. He was still homeless and penniless. His dinner last night had been a deer he had brought down himself and he had slept in the dirt under the stars. He'd spent the week since the Vytal Festival like that, surviving. Mato would hesitate to call that living.

Mato unconsciously wove through a crowd coming the other direction. He had returned to the city on a whim, nothing more. It wasn't like he had anything better to do. Despite his public performance, he passed unnoticed simply by tying back his hair and covering his tail. The denizens of the city saw only a young man with a black ponytail, not the prodigious warrior who had shocked the world on a global stage.

Mato paused as he reached a plaza. He looked up at the clouds slowly drifting by. What was he going to do now? He had burned his bridge to the White Fang, their enemies had already won and didn't need to hire him. He could go back and defend villages from Grimm for food and shelter, but was that much of an improvement over right now? Was that all he would be for the rest of his life, a mere guardian of a handful of mudmen? Maybe he should just do as his old man suggested and start a farm somewhere. Mato snorted and looked down. He froze.

For a moment, he hoped he was mistaken. But the longer he stared, the more that pleasant thought withered. He stood there staring back, his eyes boring into Mato's. Eyes set into a face with crimson skin. Ornate robes covered his body. There was no mistaking it. Standing less than ten meters away was a god.

Mato took an involuntary step back and cursed himself for it.

"Wh-wh-" Mato stopped, forced his voice to stop trembling. It was harder than it could have been with his throat suddenly bone dry. "What are you doing here?"

The Kai cocked his head inquisitively. "Why do you think?" He asked. "Even if you hadn't rampaged across this world, with your ki constantly roaring the way it is finding you would never have been difficult. If you had quieted it, perhaps you could have blended into the crowd."

So Kais really can sense ki without using a scouter. There was some truth to the stories after all. "What do you want?" Mato demanded, forcing himself to inject some boldness into his words. The Kai just gave him a pitying look and upon reflection Mato realized that was a dumb question. It would seem more of the stories were true than he thought.

He noticed something strange. People were walking past the Kai without appearing to notice him at all. They were walking around him, so they clearly knew he was there, but they were paying no attention to someone obviously not human standing right next to them. The Kai noticed Mato's confusion.

"People see what they expect to see, as you well know." He gestured towards Mato's hair. "Still, I will confess to helping them along a little." His body flickered and for half a second the image of an elderly human covered his form. "Now," The Kai began, stepping forward. Mato noticed they were starting to get odd looks from members of the crowd. Even with their respective disguises, they were rather obviously about to fight. "Let's take this elsewhere." Mato jerked his head to the west. "Here's a little too crowded."

The Kai gave a curt nod. Mato took off, startling the humans around him as he blasted into the air. He followed the river towards the coast and the industrial district. Glancing behind himself, he could see the Kai seemed content to follow for now. Mato picked a dockyard bare of workers even now in the afternoon and descended.

The Kai landed about fifteen meters away. "I'm surprised." He called over to Mato. "I half expected you to make a break for it."

"Don't be stupid." Mato replied as he ripped his hair free from its tie, letting his spikes return. _Or rather, don't treat me like_ I'm _stupid._ "You can sense my ki, so I can't hide. If I wanted to escape I'd have to outrun you. And if I'm powerful enough to do that, I'd rather just save time and beat you into the ground instead."

The Kai grudgingly accepted that. "Well-reasoned. Then since you are interested in saving time, we shall begin without delay. As a final mercy, I will respect your people's tradition. I am the Eighth Kai of the Northern Galaxy." He raised a hand and somehow took a fighting stance using only one limb. "And I don't need to hear who you are. Enma will sort you out soon enough."

 _Asshole, that's only funny when I do it._ Mato focused, his every sense honed and aimed at his enemy. Cheap tricks wouldn't work, neither would brute force. Mato forced a grin. He'd never had a chance to commit deicide before.

* * *

AN: The name 'Honeysuckle' was one of those things that comes to you in a flash of inspiration and you accept it automatically because you know you'll never think of anything better than that.

Something I really wanted to work into the chapter was Ozpin suggesting that Mato was an alien, but I could never get that to fit. Even following the idea that Ozpin knows more than he lets on (which is a direction I'm not sure I want to go) I couldn't think of plausible arguments he would use in his position or even _why_ he would bring up the topic.


	9. Gods and Mortals

**Chapter 9: Gods and Mortals**

"This is a pretty nice city." Jaune said as his team paused on a bridge to watch the sunset. There was the scent of something delicious on the wind. The clatter of people moving about and living their lives filled the air. Jaune found himself soaking in the peaceful atmosphere.

"Took you a year to reach that conclusion?" Ren commented drily.

"Be fair, the last time we were here the city was basically on fire." Jaune replied.

Nora pursed her lips. "There were Grimm everywhere, but I don't remember the city being on fire."

"There was a definite lack of fire." Pyrrha chimed in.

Jaune let out an annoyed grunt. "Okay, fine, on fire, but with the Grimm trying to kill everyone this was not a nice place to be."

"Fair enough." Ren said, the bastard poorly masking his grin. "I'd imagine most cities seem okay when you're not embroiled in a desperate, life-or-death battle."

"But those are fun. We might get another one tonight." Nora cheerfully suggested. When the rest of them looked questioningly at her she continued. "We're going to meet RWBY, there's always excitement around them."

That wasn't wrong, but still. "Hopefully not." Jaune said. "I've had enough excitement to last me a good long while."

Ren jerked his head and stared to the west. "Was that an explosion?"

"What? No." Jaune said quickly. There had been a boom, but he didn't think you would call that an explosion per se.

"I didn't hear anything." Pyrrha added.

"See, I'm sure it's nothing." Jaune said reassuringly.

They all heard the second explosion. "It sounds like it's coming from the docks." Ren said. As if on cue, all three of them turned to look at Jaune. He met their gazes with a sinking feeling in his stomach. There were very few things he wanted to do less than go charging off _towards_ the sounds of combat right now.

"Come on." Jaune set off at a run.

* * *

Mato threw a flurry of punches and kicks. He varied his attacks, being sure to attack from all sides and angles. The Kai blocked or parried every single one without breaking a sweat. When Mato launched a particularly strong kick the Kai caught him by his ankle, yanked him in, and struck him in the chest with a lightning fast jab. Flung backwards, Mato prepared his technique on the fly and whipped the energy ball at the Kai. The Kai imitated Mato's move and knocked the ki blast away with a pair of fingers. It flew up over one of the massive metal shipping crates that lined the area they battled and dropped. Mato was able to halt the ball before it hit the ground, but before he could do anything else the Kai swept out his hand and a wall of force smashed Mato into the ground.

Mato lifted himself up and stared with disbelief. He'd expected a considerable difference in power but this was above and beyond anything he'd have predicted. Sure, Mato's fighting style did rely a lot on using counter attacks and the Kai was fighting rather defensively, but he couldn't land so much as a blow on the god. He was holding off Mato's attacks while making it look easy. And he was the Eighth Kai of this galaxy. Which meant there were seven others, all of them more powerful than this one. So even if he did win, he'd just be earning himself another fight with an even stronger opponent.

"Are you ready to accept your death?" The Kai asked politely. He was showing an awful lot of courtesy for someone who had hunted Mato down to kill him like an animal.

"What do you think?" Mato thought quickly. Perhaps, if he could stall…

"You know," He began, careful not to let his gaze betray him. This would need to be delicate work. "For a member of a race that spends all its time being gentle and meditative, you're pretty tough." The words weren't just meant to distract, this really was bugging him. There was something about the Kai's movements, they weren't normal.

The Kai didn't react much, as usual, but there was a faint hint of surprise in his expression. "The true path to power is learning to suppress your energy. A wild and undisciplined fighter like you would never understand it. And so, you will never be strong."

"I'm strong enough to get the attention of a bigshot god like you." Mato fired back. "It's a big galaxy; you guys must be pretty busy."

"We are never too busy to defend innocents from the depredations of violence fueled savages." The Kai replied. He made no move to attack, seeming content to let Mato resume combat at his own pace. But Mato wasn't done talking.

"Never, huh? Then I guess you just didn't like the people of Endel III. How many were on that planet again?"

 _That_ got a reaction. The Kai faced him with his rage poorly masked, the first real emotion Mato had seen from him. "How dare you?" He asked, fury evident in his voice. "You would mock the victims of your own mass murder? Does your kind have any shame at all?"

Mato shrugged. "It's not like I killed anyone. I wasn't there, or on any other saiyan conquest, as you well know. And I'm not mocking those poor bastards, I'm mocking a hypocrite that tries to act like a protector of the weak while still letting them burn."

"You have no idea what you are talking about." The Kai said, his voice icy cold.

"No?" Mato said. _Just a little bit more._ "Don't treat me like an idiot. We both know full well the reason none of you gods did anything was because if you acted, the empire would respond. You don't have the balls to piss off Freeza, so instead you just pick off stragglers and strays and tell yourselves you're making the galaxy a better place."

"It is not that simple." The Kai was starting to get agitated. "Actions have consequences, something I doubt _you_ would understand. In saving a single planet, we would prompt the tyrant to ravage several others in retribution. Even if we dethroned him, the resulting chaos would only-"

 _Now._ Mato jerked his fingers up. His ki ball which he had been slowly inching along behind the shipping crate until it was right behind the Kai went up and over and bolted for the Kai's back. It didn't reach him; the Kai spun around and effortlessly caught the orb, negating it with a blast of his own. Just as Mato expected. The man could sense ki; a sneak attack just wasn't possible, particularly with a large mass of ki. But if his attention was drawn by what he thought was the real sneak attack…

The instant the Kai had turned to counter his technique, Mato had shot forward. He thrust his arm out in front of him, fingers forming a wedge, and after he had almost gotten within reach of the Kai let him have it. "Oni Gun!"

The blast threw Mato backwards, rolling on ground. He gingerly picked his head up to look at the Kai. The completely spotless and unharmed Kai. _This is ridiculous._ The Kai had spun around, raised his own hand, and thrown the blast back at Mato. Instead of blasting him point blank while he was off guard, Mato had the entire force of his own attack shoved in his face. He tried to push himself up and let out a hiss of pain when he moved his right arm. With no time to defend himself properly, he had been forced to block the full brunt of the blast with just that arm. Though it had fully healed from its encounter with Cinder's fireball, a direct hit from an Oni Gun was enough to disable it once again.

He forced himself to his feet and regarded the Kai with narrowed eyes and forced defiance. He was running low on viable plans. The Oni Gun and his own technique were the best techniques he knew and could use most easily, outside of the body flicker. And since the Kai was obviously faster than him, that was useless. There was too much of a difference in power.

 _Remember Mato, you don't need to have more power than your opponent; you just need to have more power than them at one point. It doesn't matter how strong your legs are if your fist is meeting his._

It was one of the first lessons Mato's father had taught him. But it was no help here. Mato was already flowing his ki to use it more efficiently, and was losing regardless. There was nothing more he could do; the Kai was just more powerful than him.

 _The true path to power is learning to suppress your energy._

That was what the Kai had said. It had been such a stupid thing to say Mato hadn't paid it any mind. Mato was aware that it was theoretically possible to lower one's ki, but how could reducing your power make you stronger?

 _More power at one point._ Mato glanced at the Kai. He seemed content to wait for Mato to make the first move again.

Mato knelt. He'd look foolish if his legs buckled underneath him while he was concentrating. He pushed away the thought and reached within himself for his ki. He had long since passed the point of even needing to think when controlling his ki; it happened as easily as breathing. Intentionally manipulating it directly, rather than just as a means to an end, was a distinctly unfamiliar experience for him. He took a moment to simply examine his ki as a whole. He felt it as a fire that permeated every fiber of his body. Just as an experiment, he drew his ki into his clenched fist. The fire moved along his body, and while he did indeed feel stronger in that one hand, he could sit feel embers of ki throughout his body.

So, at least this would be worth a shot. Mato let his ki leave his fist, returning to equilibrium throughout his body. This next part he wasn't even sure was actually possible. He visualized the fire not going out, but being drawn up into a single, brightly glowing spark that rested not within his body, but his soul. At first, nothing happened. Then, Mato began to feel his ki slowly leave, not just shift to a different part of his body but genuinely dissipate.

"Saiyan." The Kai said. "What are you doing?" There was a sharpness to his voice, and was that a hint of uncertainty? Emboldened, Mato continued. And he did need the bolstering; his ki receding felt like his skin was being stripped off. Not painful, but exposing. Goosebumps formed all over his exposed skin. His limbs began to feel weak and fatigued, like he had been fighting for hours. It all wasn't terribly surprising, having lived with a body constantly shrouded in ki made its removal go against every bit of sense and reason Mato had. His instincts were screaming that he needed to stop this madness and stop reducing his own power immediately.

And yet, there was something else. An odd feeling not in any part of his body, but somewhere he couldn't quite place. A warm, almost hot, feeling that smoldered inside him. _This is my ki._ Mato realized. It wasn't gone, it was just put away. And it could be drawn back out, he understood. Not just in general, but to a specific place and with a specific purpose. There'd be no wasted energy left behind and it would be easier to simply move all of his power instead of only a part of it.

Mato slowly stood. With almost all his life spent with his ki and muscles working in tandem, having the latter support him alone felt very bizarre. Not necessarily bad, but different. Mato faced the Kai, took a stance, and with his new understanding of his ki used the body flicker technique.

A metallic clang rang out throughout the dockyard. Mato pulled his head back through the side of the shipping crate and looked back to see the Kai looking at him askance. "Shut up." Mato said, flustered. He hadn't been expecting the increase in his ki usage to be so dramatic. He'd overshot his target by quite a bit. Thankfully, his ki had instinctively surged back into his body to protect him when he had seen the oncoming wall of metal or his head might have splattered against it.

Mato drew himself up, concentrated and withdrew his ki, which came easier this time and prepared himself. This time, knowing what to expect, it went a lot better.

He flickered right behind the Kai's back. The Kai was turning and Mato flickered again, returning to where he had first started. His heart was pounding and his face was stretched into an uncontrollable grin. _I took his back._ It had been brief, but for that moment Mato had been faster.

That filled him with elation. The Kai's power was not insurmountable. He could be beaten. His reflexes were better, so Mato would need more than a few body flickers but enough of them used consecutively would disorient him when he tried to follow Mato's movements and leave him open. Hopefully. Then all it would take was a solid, full-power punch to take him down. Hopefully.

Mato settled into a fighting stance, his mind focused on his ki. The Kai, surprisingly, took his own stance. He was getting rattled.

Mato took off. He became a blur of motion, each flicker coming right on the heels of the one before it. He darted in close to the Kai and just as quickly retreated. He zigged left, zagged right, constantly on the move. After one pass near the Kai, as Mato withdrew he noticed the Kai had thrown a punch his way. Dodging the blow, even if only unintentionally, filled Mato with confidence. He began to not retreat as far and approach the Kai more often. After two, three more evaded strikes it was time for his own. He flickered directly behind the Kai, but this time instead of moving on he drew all of his ki back from his legs and into his arm. Moving in one solid mass, the energy flowed through his body faster than he would have thought possible before this battle and Mato threw the strongest punch of his life at the Kai's defenseless back.

He struck nothing but air. _Oh, right._ With the Kai having stood still for the entirety of their battle, it had slipped Mato's mind that he was, in fact, capable of moving.

A fist smashed into the side of Mato's head. Even as his face turned from the punch, another slammed into his stomach. The air forced from his lungs with the sheer strength of the blow brought Mato to his knees, gasping and coughing. Blearily, he looked up to see the Kai's outstretched hand and behind it a resigned expression on his face. Energy began to coalesce in his palm.

There was an odd whistling, and then an explosion engulfed the Kai's head. He blew away the bizarrely pink smoke with a wave of his hand, only for another shell to detonate against his shoulder. Through the smoke Mato could see the Kai glare, and three more shells exploded in midair. Meanwhile, some kind of metallic disk whirled around in front of Mato and pressed against his stomach. It yanked with enough force to pull him back away from the Kai, until he came to rest next to a group of humans. From their apparent ages and weaponry, Mato assumed them to be the warriors-in-training on this planet.

"Are you alright?" Asked the male with bright hair as the leader, a woman with long red hair took a defensive stance between them and the Kai. The disk slipped off Mato's stomach and revealed itself to be a shield when it attached to her forearm.

Mato, still a little dazed from the blow to the head, answered him with a question. "What are you doing?"

"I told you I owe you a debt." The other man said. It took Mato a second to notice the ridiculous stripe of pink in his hair and recognize him. "I intend to pay it back."

"Get away from him." The Kai said unmistakable urgency. His fists were clenched at his sides and he looked ready to charge forward at a moment's notice.

"I don't think so." The redheaded leader said. She began to move forward, but the Kai froze her with a glare. Literally, it was some sort of paralysis technique. The woman was clearly struggling, but from the neck down her limbs didn't so much as twitch. A technique applied with such an indirect method yet still being fully effective spoke volumes for the power discrepancy between the humans and the god.

"You do not understand what you are doing." The Kai said to them evenly. "That is not a human or a Faunus you are defending, nor any other being of this world. He is a Saiyan, a violent and barbaric race that does nothing but fight and kill without-"

He was interrupted by the orange haired woman firing yet another explosive at him. "Shut up already!"

"Yeah, like we'd believe that bunch of bull." A blond man with a sword in his hand said. He looked down at Mato. "Right?"

Mato looked up at them, people who willing to fight, and probably die, to protect him. "Actually, it's all true. Pretty much every word." He forced himself to his feet. "And on that note," He whipped his good arm around and smashed his fist into the jaw of the orange haired woman. The force of the blow flung her backward into a shipping crate, caving in the wall where she hit it.

"Nora!" Pink Stripe ran over to her. Mato forced himself to ignore them and grin darkly.

"Who said you could interfere in my fight? This bastard is MINE!"

Mato lunged at the Kai, spinning into a kick aimed at the side of his head. The Kai blocked with his wrist and Mato continued to spin, slipping around behind him. If he could gun it out over the water, pull the Kai after him- his plans were interrupted by the Kai's fist clenching around his neck. Mato gasped and choked, trying to force air down his throat to no avail.

Mato lashed out with his arm and legs, but the Kai didn't so much as flinch beyond his grip tightening. He felt dizzy, nauseous, and he desperately grabbed at the Kai's arm with all his strength as his lungs burned. It didn't even budge. The Kai's unblinking stare bored into Mato's eyes as he tightened his grip again. Darkness began to swallow Mato's vision. _I guess this is it for me, huh?_

A metallic twang echoed through the air. The blond swordsman had slashed at the Kai's arm with his sword. It had done nothing, not even scuffed the sleeve of the Kai's robe, but the Kai still looked over at him and his mouth opened. What he intended to say, Mato would never know as he pooled every last scrap of ki he had into his arm and punched the Kai square in the face as hard as he could.

Mato fell. He dropped to the ground in a tangle of limbs, desperately inhaling as much air as he could. He remembered himself after a few seconds and looked up wildly, seeking his enemy. The first thing he saw was the swordsman standing over him, like the galaxy's most inept Guardian. The second thing he saw was the Kai having withdrawn a ways from the two of them. The third thing he saw was the blood trickling down the Kai's face.

 _I made him bite his lip._ The petty victory made Mato absurdly happy, before he realized the implications. He rose and grabbed the swordsman by the neck of his shirt. "I told you-"

A blast of ki slammed into Mato, stronger than anything he had felt since his last attempt of the trials. It drove him backwards and detonated, surrounding him in a pillar of raw power that devastated his body as it shot into the sky. Mato screamed as the power ravaged him, collapsed to his knees as the energy abated. With him already having spent most of his ki, especially in that last attack, he hadn't been able to defend himself from the blast at all. His body was wrecked. Even lifting his head to confirm the swordsman had been unharmed by the blast was nearly beyond him.

Through eyes he could barely force open, Mato saw Kai regard him with distaste. Wordlessly, he raised his hand again and another blast of ki coalesced in his palm. Mato knew this one would finish him off.

Once again, the swordsman stepped in between them, raising his shield as if that would do anything.

"Jaune!" His comrade with the red hair cried, struggling against her frozen state.

The Kai glared. "Move aside, boy. You don't know who you're defending."

Jaune didn't move. "Someone who can't fight back, that's who. I'm a Huntsman; I don't need a reason to protect the defenseless."

"Well said, Mr. Arc." A high and clear voice said. Leaping down from a stack of shipping crates, a figure dressed in green landed in front of Jaune.

"Professor Ozpin." Jaune said, half in amazement, half in relief. The man rested a comforting hand on his shoulder before turning to face the Kai.

"Regardless of your business with this young saiyan, it would seem you will have to go through my students to get to him. And so, you will have to go through me to get to them."

Surprisingly, the Kai lowered his hand. "He is dangerous." He said, the words more warning than order.

"As are you." The professor replied. "For that matter, I am dangerous in my own way as well."

The Kai didn't respond to that. He just shook his head and vanished with what Mato would have marveled at as a teleportation technique had the darkness not finally claimed him.

* * *

AN: Man, for some reason this chapter just would not follow properly. Took me forever to get this much and I'll admit I kinda just pushed it out here just to be done with it. There's probably a bunch of typos and shit, I dunno.

Raos: The Kai's are picking on Mato instead of vaporizing Planet Vegeta because of realpolitik. Pissing off Freeza is not a good idea and dethroning him would only start a massive civil war. So they have to pick their battles a bit. The Eighth Kai isn't terribly happy about it, but he's resigned himself to the fact that that's the way the galaxy is.

MaxHD2490: Adam currently has like half the bones in his body broken from his run-in with Matozaru. He had been absent and returned to see the destruction, gave a boast about killing the overgrown monkey, gave Mato a minor cut on the cheek, and was immediately pounded into the ground.


	10. A New Job or Two

**Chapter 10: A New Job, or Two**

" _I won't drown in this sickening mediocrity anymore!"_

" _If you walk out that door, you are no longer my son."_

" _This is your last chance. Are you ready?"_

" _As I'll ever be."_

Mato opened his eyes.

For a long while he did nothing but lay there staring at the ceiling, listening to the beeps and whirs of the machinery around him. Luckily, the pain of the past was drowned out by the pain of the present. His right arm ached. Actually, every part of his body was hurting right now, but his arm hurt like a bastard.

Mato made to sit up, but something held his arms down. Looking down his torso, he saw there were cuffs locking his wrists to bars on either side of the bed. He rolled his eyes, flexed his left arm to rip the cuff off the bar, and reached over to pop the other cuff off his right arm. He half rose, half rolled out of the bed to stand in front of the window, absently removing various tubes connecting his body to the machines.

Mato took stock of the situation. He was still in the city, mostly likely in some kind of human medical ward. He was battered, tired, hungry, and, Mato looked down at the odd half-robe he was wearing, in need of new clothing. He wasn't in much of a mood (or shape) to fight, so taking any of these things wasn't really on the table. He could go back to Mist Village, but the idea of limping back to beg for help repulsed him. So that really only left one option. Head out into the wilderness, find a deer or something-

"You're not one for staying still, are you?"

Mato whipped his head around so fast it made his neck ache. In a chair in the corner of the room sat a human dressed in a green suit, a coffee mug in his hand. Had he been here the whole time? He must have, the only thing more implausible than Mato having not noticed the man when he surveyed the room was that he had somehow arrived without being noticed.

Mato glared at the human as though his mere presence was an affront. Almost unconsciously, he clenched his fists and shifted his stance to turn his weaker arm away from the human. The man noted the motion with a raised eyebrow, but didn't move beyond taking a sip of his coffee. "You're in no danger here. I just want to ask you a few questions."

Another sip and he continued. "I am Professor Ozpin, headmaster of Beacon Academy." He paused, as if waiting for Mato to contribute something to the currently one sided conversation. When he didn't, Ozpin continued. "And you are Mato, the Saiyan Warrior." There was another pause. "You _are_ a Warrior, correct?"

What the hell was _that_ supposed to mean? Mato stamped down the surge of fear that felt like a dagger of ice plunged into his gut. It meant nothing, this human knew nothing. How could he? Despite this reassurance, Mato's fists clenched so hard it hurt and he didn't trust himself to speak.

You could cut the tension in the air with a knife. The sound of the door opening served well enough though. Mato turned to see the leader of the soldiers from the colosseum. He looked a lot less martial carrying a tray with two plates of food on it. He seemed surprised to see Mato standing and pulled up mid stride, looking to Ozpin for guidance. A low growling noise filled the air and all three men glanced at Mato's stomach.

"Would you like something to eat?" Ozpin asked, not unkindly. His tone annoyed Mato enough he wanted to refuse out of stubborn pride. He didn't, but it was a close run thing. General James Ironwood, as he was introduced, set the tray on the bed after getting an approving nod from Ozpin. Mato half sat and began to eat quickly even for a saiyan.

"You should know," Ozpin began as Mato stuffed his face. "What exactly you've done for us."

Mato didn't stop his eating to ask, but he did make an exaggerated confused expression.

"Whatever your reasons for attacking her, you did us a great favor by defeating Cinder Fall. She was an enemy of ours, one made far more dangerous by her being skilled at evading our attempts to find her. You not only revealed her, you did the lion's share of subduing her. That was a massive help to us; the amount of danger she posed to us could not be understated."

Mato continued eating, but his mind's gears were already working. The White Fang were in ruin, the only other force he could sign up with as a fighter would be their enemies, the kingdoms. Was that why Ozpin had interceded when the Kai had been attacking?

"You've also done us a disservice." The general said. The man folded his arms with a disapproving look. "Or do you deny that you aided the White Fang in their attempts to attack this city?"

Ozpin started to say something, but Mato could defend his own actions. "I didn't aid them." He said around a mouthful of apple. "I worked for them."

Ironwood rolled his eyes. "Same thing."

"No." Mato set an empty plate back down on the tray and picked up the other one. "Saying I aided them implies I fought for them because I agreed with their ideas. I fought for them because they paid me, no more and no less."

"So you're not a terrorist, just a mercenary." Ironwood said, his tone making it clear there was little distinction between the two in his eyes. Mato just shrugged and continued eating.

"Well," Ozpin interjected. "Whatever your reasons, it's undeniable that you possess an abnormal amount of power. You said that you are a Saiyan warrior. The meaning of warrior is obvious, what a Saiyan is is not."

"'at's ny," Mato swallowed. "Species."

The two humans shared a significant look. "Species?" Ozpin asked slowly.

"I'm from another world." Mato said bluntly. He knew there were some rules about not revealing there was life on other worlds to mudmen, but he was already on the Kais' shit-list, so who cared? "My ship broke when I landed here, so now I'm stuck."

It would not have surprised Mato for the two of them to disbelieve him, think him crazy. Mudmen have such narrow perspectives, after all. But instead the two shared a long, significant look. "That would answer several questions..." Ozpin said.

"But raises others." Ironwood finished for him. His gaze shifted back to Mato. "The main one being, why are you here?"

Mato took a bite of his apple, more to give himself time to think than because he was still hungry (though he _was_ still hungry). "I came here on a whim." He said when he'd swallowed. That was a true answer, from a certain point of view.

"Whatever you're history, we won't pry." Ozpin said. Ironwood looked very much like he wanted to do some prying anyway.

"My reasons are my own," Mato said. "But I can tell you I'm here alone and no other aliens have any interest in this planet, just in case you were getting worried." From the look on the general's face, he had been. Looking a bit relieved, he just asked another question.

"Why did you join the White Fang? What could they possibly offer an alien?" Mato was a bit surprised. He was expecting a barrage of questions about the interstellar community. You didn't expect people to ignore the revelation that they weren't alone in the universe. Then again, Ironwood struck him as a practical man. Mato was in front of him, so questions about the greater galaxy could wait until he was sorted out.

"Food." Mato gestured at the now empty tray.

Ironwood's eyes widened at that. "That was enough food for two grown men."

Mato burped. "Got any more?"

He wasn't actually expecting to get any, but was still a little disappointed when Ironwood just continued the interrogation. "You worked for terrorists for nothing but food?"

Mato folded his arms, bemused. "You say that like I should have just starved to death instead. I landed on a foreign planet with a busted ship. I have no marketable skills but combat abilities, I can't even read this planet's script. It shouldn't surprise anyone that I turned to fighting for a living. A man must work, after all."

Ironwood's eyes narrowed as he folded his arms. "Not necessarily. There are plenty of institutions in this city that provide food and shelter for those in need."

Mato's own eyes narrowed. For the first time in the conversation, anger seeped into his voice. "I will not beg to survive. Not ever."

It was surprising. Based on how this conversation had gone Mato had expected a grudging nod from Ozpin and a look of disapproval from Ironwood. He got the exact opposite, a nod from the general and glare, quickly masked, from the headmaster. Before he could ponder the meaning of that, Ironwood asked another question.

"You mentioned your combat abilities. What exactly is the nature of those powers?"

Mato's brow furrowed. "What do you mean?"

"Your flight, energy blasts." Ironwood waved a hand. "These powers of yours. What exactly are they? Learned skills? Innate abilities of you, your species?"

"In a sense. Those are just simple ki manipulations, anyone could do them. Saiyans are naturally gifted at controlling their ki though." Mato half smirked and took a stab in the dark. "If you're asking if your own people could learn how, then it's possible. All living beings have ki, regardless of what they call it, and your fighters seem to have some rudimentary techniques for controlling it already."

"I have a question." Ozpin said from his corner. Mato was a little surprised; he had figured this was Ironwood's show. "Are you satisfied with your life?"

Mato didn't know how to respond to that. Lies, glib deflections, and smart-ass sarcasm battled in his brain. Even the truth was in there, somewhere. Sarcasm won. "Oh yeah, I love being beaten within an inch of my life. Very fulfilling experience."

"I'm talking about more than just the past few days." Ozpin said with a hint of reproach as he set his coffee mug down. "Is selling your skills for mere survival a fulfilling way to live? Do you have no higher aspirations than a full belly and a warm bed?"

Mato had the feeling this was the sales pitch this conversation had been about. He didn't really feel like playing along. "Of course I do. But since it's impossible for me to get what I want, that's an academic point."

A small smile graced Ozpin's face and the sight of it made Mato inexplicably furious. "In my experience, things people call impossible tend to merely difficult."

Mato was no longer _inexplicably_ angry. "Really?" He asked, voice light. "Then you could resurrect my dead brother? I didn't know humans possessed such a power."

He succeeded in wiping the smile from Ozpin's face. "Ah, no." He leaned forward and looked at Mato with sympathy. "I'm sorry for your loss."

"Don't be." Mato gave a flippant wave with his good hand. "I have no siblings, dead or otherwise." His voice hardened and eyes narrowed into a glare. "You know nothing, human, about me or my life. Do not speak to me as though I am some ignorant child."

"I see." Ozpin drew himself back up, his expression once again unreadable. "I apologize for my presumption, it was not my intention to offend. I just thought someone of your power and ability would desire to make more of an impact than that of a simple fighter-for-hire. To have purpose, make a difference, leave a lasting legacy."

 _This is where he offers me a job._ "Oh? And where would I get such lofty ideals?"

Ozpin leaned forward, serious. "Come work for us. We have need of someone of your skills."

 _Called it._ "A job offer? I don't think so. " Mato said dismissively. He folded his arms, repressing a wince at how it stressed his right arm. "I have no interest in anything like that. You have nothing I want."

"Don't be ridiculous." Ironwood said, stepping forward. Mato raised an eyebrow and the general nodded towards the empty tray. "You were willing to fight for the White Fang to make a living. Our money is as good as theirs, better even. We have more."

Mato mulled that over. He took a moment to ask himself if he had any reason to _not_ want to work for them. It certainly wasn't that he had anything better to do.

"Fair enough." Mato conceded. He sighed. "Alright, fine, I'll teach your students how to wield their ki like me."

That was, of course, what they had been angling for this whole time. They were both headmasters of combat schools. Ironwood had asked if his abilities could be taught to others. Ozpin talked about leaving behind a legacy. They said he defeated a dangerous foe of theirs and he'd used skills that could be taught to do it. So they wanted him to teach them those skills. It was obvious.

It was not, apparently, obvious to the two of them, however. Ozpin and Ironwood stared at him like he'd grown a second head. For an uncomfortably long time they just stared at him, until Mato began to shift self-consciously. Well, what had they been expecting him to say? Ozpin found his words first.

"That isn't exactly what we were-"

Ironwood cut him off. The general looked intrigued. "How quickly could you train a class of students in your techniques?" He asked eagerly.

Mato rubbed his chin, thinking. "It kind of depends on your students and I doubt any of them could become as strong as me. They wouldn't have the ki reserves. Still, I'd say in a year's time they would have all but the more esoteric abilities down."

"I could probably pull together a class of Huntsmen, it shouldn't be too hard to rearrange assignment schedules…" Ironwood said more to himself than Mato. His eyes were far away, Mato could practically hear the gears of his mind turning.

"Not the adult Huntsmen, I hope." Mato said. "They would have too many bad habits to unlearn. Younger, less talented students would be better. Probably more open to taking instruction too."

"Yes, that makes sense." Ironwood agreed. "If nothing else, that will give us some latitude with-"

"James." Ozpin said firmly. He was standing now, a hand clutched around his cane. He nodded towards the door. "Can I speak to you outside?" Looking surprised, Ironwood exited. Ozpin paused at the door and gave Mato a surprisingly cold look before following. When the sound of footsteps receded Mato slumped back against the bed. What was _that_ about, he wondered?

* * *

Ozpin led the way down the hall, probably looking for a place they could talk privately. James was happy to follow along, his mind was too awhirl with Mato's offer and its implications to think about anything else. Even assuming the boy's estimates were being _very_ generous, the future was suddenly looking a lot brighter. The Maidens had never been the perfect guardians for a number of reasons, chief among them that there were only four, there was no way to get more, and they had the constant risk of losing their power to the enemy. Flaws Mato's students wouldn't have.

James made some conservative estimates. If one in five students were able to learn these techniques, that was still half a dozen Huntsmen nearly half as powerful as a Maiden they could train in a _year_. Having that kind of power at their disposal would be incredible. In a few years' time they could finally start pushing back against Grimm encroachment with real power. The threat of a massed Grimm attack would be nonexistent, if the Huntsmen were stationed inside the kingdoms. And if any of the Huntsmen could teach others Mato's techniques themselves…

Ozpin pulled them up in an out-of-the-way nook.

"James, what do you think you're doing?" Ozpin asked sternly. Was he glaring?

"What?" James asked, thoroughly confused. "What am I doing?"

"We were going to recruit him to be a replacement for Amber until things settled." Ozpin said, words cold enough to freeze the air. He was angry? _Why?_ "No one said anything about giving him a teaching job."

"I admit the offer took me by surprise." James began, unclear how defend the idea simply because he didn't understand what the problem was. "But the merits should be obvious."

"As are the risks." Ozpin said firmly. "You cannot possibly believe it's a good idea to bring this wild, undisciplined boy into our schools and give him a position of authority."

James couldn't believe what he was hearing. "What? Just a half an hour ago you were singing his praises, reassuring _me_ that he could be trusted. It was your idea to make him the guardian to begin with!"

"Yes, the guardian." Ozpin said, voice rising but still kept low enough they couldn't be overheard. "Not a teacher."

"Why not?" James couldn't see the sense it in. "It's not like he can't be both. He'd be spending most of his time waiting around Beacon until he's needed anyway. Giving him a teaching job gives him something productive to do and will keep him out of trouble. It's not like we can't trust him with our students, or we wouldn't want him as a guardian."

"And you see nothing wrong with disseminating incredible power and abilities?" Ozpin insisted. "Did you forget how much trouble we were in with just _one_ super powered enemy?"

James's confusion had passed. Now he was starting to get quite angry himself. "That's our damn _jobs._ Huntsmen have always been stronger than anyone else and been held in check by other Huntsmen. If we made our students stronger, the same would apply." His eyes narrowed. "Are you saying we can't trust our students? Because if so, we might as well give up right now."

"The risks-" Ozpin began, but James's patience had run out.

"Are no greater than doing nothing. If the recent events with Cinder Fall have proven anything, it's that we're vulnerable. Your desire to sit on our hands instead of taking action nearly cost us dearly. It was only through blind luck that Mato got involved, and without him we likely _still_ wouldn't know who had stolen Amber's power. We need _more_ power at our disposal, not less. And who better to give that power to than our students, our successors?"

Ozpin said nothing, just glared and James matched him. He'd had enough of being talked into things against his better judgement. "If you won't have him as a teacher, then I'll take him with me back to Atlas. Which means you'd still be in need of guardian here, with your choices being between my troops or in all likelihood killing an innocent girl in every way that matters. Is that what you want?"

Ozpin said nothing.

* * *

Mato breathed deep of the fresh air as he leaned on the railing the surrounded the hospital's roof. He had come up here to do some thinking; he had a lot to chew over.

For starters, he now had gainful employment. After returning from their private chat, Professor Ozpin had formally extended an invitation to teach at Beacon Academy to Mato. He was to remain at the hospital until he had fully recuperated, then report to the school to be given his lodgings and the expectations for his classes. From what little Ozpin had mentioned, that included drafting up some lesson plans, among other things. That might be a _tad_ complicated, given Mato couldn't read or write in a language anyone else on this planet could understand, but he'd make it work.

Mato had expressed an interest in going to Ironwood's school instead, but that had been shot down. It was a pity, Mato found himself liking the soldier. He was an uncomplicated sort and straightforward, an easy man to work with. Not like Ozpin, who had insisted the reasons Mato had to teach at Beacon needed to wait until he was out of the hospital. Oh well, it was what it was.

A less pleasant development was the confirmation that the Kais were indeed going to be coming after him. Mato had barely survived the battle with the eighth ranked Kai, mainly through having outside help. The knowledge that there were seven other Kais out there even stronger was not a happy thought at all. Still, the Kai had left of his own free will, not be driven off. That might be sign he'd be willing to leave Mato alone in the future.

The future. Not for the first time, Mato pondered where his life was going. It was no surprise he had found himself without a purpose, considering what drove him to this world. Now he had one, of a sort. Train powerful students. His legacy, as Ozpin put it, would be those students and their skills. It wasn't etching his name into his bloodline, but it was something. Not that he'd even have a bloodline, stranded here like this.

The wind shifted and Mato caught a familiar scent. "What do you want?" He asked brusquely without turning around.

The Kai tsked. "Considering I ought to be killing you right now, if I were you I'd be more respectful."

Mato nodded. That was true. But… "I've been helpless for quite a few hours. Hell, even now you could have ripped my heart out before I even knew you were here. If you wanted me dead, I'd be dead."

"People far better than yourself have vouched for you, so I have decided to let you live for the time being. I could revise that decision at any time. A wise man would not push his luck."

Mato smirked behind the safety of his turned head. "If I were a wise man, would I even be here? Though I am surprised to hear a noble Kai like yourself would murder a guy over a few barbed words."

"We do not commit murder." The Kai said, sounding indignant.

Finally, Mato turned to face him. "I'd call intentionally seeking out and trying to kill someone a murder. Maybe I just need your divine wisdom to understand it."

The Kai looked away from Mato's gaze for a moment. From where Mato had been standing it almost looked like he winced. When he looked back his expression was as stern as it had always been. Mato wasn't sure he hadn't imagined the look of guilt on his face. "You may go for now, but this is not a pardon. It is a stay of execution, nothing more. Try to kill anyone on this planet and you will die. And rest assured," Here his eyes bored into Mato's. "I _will_ be watching."

He disappeared through that teleportation technique of his. Mato resumed leaning over the railing, offhandedly wondering how that technique worked. And if it could be copied.

* * *

Salem walked across the dusty ground of the Shadowlands, past the spawning pools that endlessly churned out Grimm. Currently they were producing minor Beowolves, after the destruction of the hordes she had prepared for the invasion of Beacon Salem thought is best to pad her numbers first and foremost. Soon, however, she would be turning the energies of the heart back to creating stronger Grimm again. And speaking of strong Grimm…

She reached her destination, the sunken clearing that served as a training ground for her human allies. And currently, one other. Hazel turned and acknowledged her with a nod when she joined him on the cliff overlooking the ad hoc arena.

"How is he?" Salem asked, looking down at the figure standing motionless in the center of the clearing. As if he sensed her gaze, the featureless mask swiveled up to stare at her.

"Hrm." Hazel was not a man who spoke often, conversations with him tended to require a bit of work on the other person's part. Not for Salem, though, the man knew his place. "He's getting stronger, sure, but not any faster than he already was."

"Indeed?" It was what Salem expected, though not what she had hoped for. "I heard there was an altercation earlier."

"Tyrian thought playing with him would be good sport. Didn't work out for him."

Salem was aware of that, and Tyrian's injuries were not a pleasant development, but that the Grimm was capable of that was encouraging. He was still 'looking' at her, though the intensity of his stare was diminished by him not having eyes. "Well, at least he's powerful."

"He's more dangerous than powerful." Hazel warned in his deep baritone.

Salem laughed. "They are the same thing."

"Begging your pardon ma'am, but that's not true." Hazel insisted. "Cinder was powerful, she got the job done for us. This one is dangerous. He's just as likely to attack us as not if we let him off the leash."

"Then perhaps it's time we did away with the leash entirely." Salem proposed. Hazel raised an eyebrow, the closest thing his body had to an alarmed reaction. Salem continued. "If he were awakened, that would settle the matter one way or another."

"That it would." Hazel said frowning, looking back to the humanoid Grimm below. It was still staring up at them.

* * *

AN: And that's the end of what I'd consider the first story arc. This chapter was a bitch and a half to write, mainly because I had to redo almost the whole thing.

I keep a running outline of how the plot will go several chapters in advance. One of the big points in the story was always going to be Mato ending up at Beacon as a teacher. And so this chapter was a pretty simple affair, Ozpin bails Mato out of his fight with the Kai then offers him a job. Ironwood wasn't even present. Just one problem, that I only realized after I had basically finished the whole thing.

Ozpin would never actually do that. His character is all about reducing the number of people involved, and concentrating power and responsibility into as few hands as possible. It's way out of character for him to advocate for handing out superpowers to everyone, because he's all about keeping people away from the conflict with Salem and the Grimm as much as possible. So I added a misunderstanding to get Mato on the idea and brought in Ironwood to tie his hands and force him into it. Not the most elegant of fixes, but it works.

Review Responses: ShadowRock21: I'm glad you like it so far. I'll admit that portraying Mato as powerful as a Saiyan ought to be without making it so he stomps everything without issue is one of the big challenges in writing this story. I think I'm striking a pretty good balance though. Mato's name is just that, Mato. "Matozaru" is just my shitty nickname for Mato while he's transformed into an Oozaru.

Kyugan: Planet Vegeta and the Saiyans are still around. "Eighth" Kai is a rank, not a prescriptive term. So you'd have the First Kai, or Supreme Kai, then the Second Kai who'd be like Kibito, and so on. Being Eighth means our Kai is pretty low on the hierarchy, which is why he's doing the grunt work here.

Raos: This is where the divergence from DBZ canon and my canon starts to emerge. The main difference is that Saiyan society is going to be a bit more developed past the one dimensional "we all just kill things for a living." Mato's father, for example, is a farmer.


	11. Hunter

**Chapter 11: Hunter**

"It is a commonly held…be-elf?"

"Belief."

"Belief, that Grimm are more active during the night. However, a closer…ex-am-in-a-tion shows that Grimm attacks are equally common during the day as the night. Researchers…hm…"

"Hypothesize." Glynda said. Mato gave her a look of annoyance for the interruption and continued struggling through the text.

When Glynda had become a Huntress she knew there were certain things she was unlikely to experience, chief among them being motherhood. It wasn't much of a sacrifice, she never had much interest in children and her patience for them was often strained even with her students who were already young adults and were _mostly_ mature. Thankfully, her oh so considerate boss had decided to let her experience what she was missing by making her Mato's minder.

For the past two months during the break between semesters, she had effectively been the young Saiyan's mother, complete with dressing and feeding him. She understood the reasons for this, Mato had a very limited understanding of how humans live and exposing this rather large knowledge gap would give away his true origins. Ozpin hadn't needed to do much arguing to convince her of the dangers of that. This meant that only someone in the know, which was a very select group of people, could teach Mato what he needed to know to be able to blend in.

Ozpin and Ironwood had schools to run, and leaving Qrow and the young Saiyan alone together would most likely result in one of them being dead within an hour. That left only Glynda, who had comparatively little to do for the few months before classes resumed. And so, she found herself having to teach Mato how to be a human being. That included showing him how to prepare his own meals, without having to hunt down an animal to get it, how to go about buying something instead of taking it by force, and outfitting him with a wardrobe.

That last one showed a significant cultural difference between humans and Saiyans. For any other student, Glynda would have viewed the complete lack of anything resembling an interest in style or color scheme to be potential sign of some form of abuse. Something horrible, that had completely repressed his sense of individuality. For Mato, however, it was hard to believe anything could crush his spirit. He simply did not care about how he looked and seemed to find it strange that she expected that he would. It was an interesting look into the uniformity of Saiyan culture, a uniformity that she didn't think was entirely healthy.

But the biggest trial by far had to be reading. He wasn't going to be able to do much teaching without being able to read, (though as he was quick to insist he did know how to read, just not any language used on Remnant). To the boy's credit, he was a quick learner and had insisted that they skip over children's books and do their practice on something useful. But, he was also prickly and quick to become angry when he made a mistake. Not necessarily angry at her, but frustration made for a poor learning partner even in the best of times. That made for several sessions that she had cut short due to his quick temper impairing the learning process.

Today did not seem to be any exception. Mato was getting there, slowly, but that didn't make the process enjoyable. Thankfully, Glynda was spared having to deal with his mounting irritation over not being able to do anything he wanted just by trying it by a chime from her scroll.

"We have a faculty meeting." She told him. "We can pick this up later."

"If you say so." Mato said, poorly masking his relief that this was over for now. Glynda waited for him to collect his books, some rudimentary texts on Grimm, and followed him out the door. She let him lead the way to see if he knew his way around the campus yet and he guided them to the main building not on the most direct route, but they were still heading there. As they walked, Glynda observed her companion.

That the young man was strong wasn't really in question, he'd proven it on global television. But it was more than just power, there was something about how he walked, how he moved, and how he observed his environment. He moved like a Huntsman who had seen more combat than most and yet according to him he was only sixteen years old (fourteen, by his people's counting). He called his people a warrior race, and if he a typical member of the species then Glynda pitied whoever they warred against. Still, it saddened her to see a boy younger than almost every student at Beacon so familiar with violence.

Mato paused in the central tower's atrium, not knowing the way but not willing to ask for directions. Glynda took pity on him and wordlessly led the way to the elevator. They rode it up to the conference room around halfway up the tower. They had arrived later than most and so had to sit near the back of the room. Professor Ozpin was waiting for everyone to arrive at the front of the room, standing next to the screen showing a map of the area to the east of the city. The map had red markers for villages in the area and black ones for any Grimm sightings, with surprisingly few of the latter. After Professor Port entered, muttering apologies, Ozpin began without further delay.

"We all know that there has been a significant reduction in Grimm activity in the wildlands to the northeast." Ozpin said, gesturing at the map should have had far more black dots than it did. Sitting next to Glynda, Mato had a self-satisfied grin. By his account, he was single-handedly responsible for driving the Grimm from that region. Glynda wasn't sure how much of that she believed, but she had to admit he had the power to make it happen. Ozpin continued. "Since then, there hasn't been any noticeable Grimm presence in that area."

Come to think of it, that was rather strange. It had certainly been long enough for them to start expecting Grimm to be returning to the area. That they weren't definitely was something to note. Judging by some of the mutters around the table, she wasn't alone in finding that bizarre.

"Though we have yet to receive any reports about Grimm, we have received disturbing news. Two weeks ago, the people of Luna Village reported that the neighboring village of Veridian had been destroyed." Ozpin waved his arm and one of the red markers disappeared from the map.

"Do you mean to say that they were attacked by the Grimm?" Professor Port asked.

"Perhaps." Ozpin said. He looked grim, whatever this was had him worried. "The village itself is fine; the homes and buildings are mostly intact with little sign of damage. But the people are either dead or missing. If it was Grimm, they were awfully neat about their slaughter. In addition, the valuables within the village are still there."

There were more murmurs around the table. It sounded far too precise to be a Grimm attack, but who else could have caused it? A small army of bandits, perhaps? But even the most bloodthirsty group of brigands would have looted the place. So what did that leave?

"The Huntsman dispatched to the scene said that the wounds inflicted on the villagers were consistent with Grimm claws, but there was also a suspicious absence of bite marks or signs that people had been eaten. He concluded that the marks might have been faked by human attackers, or else we're dealing with an abnormal breed of Grimm. Then, a little over a week ago, he dropped out of contact. The Huntress sent after him reported that now Luna Village was gone as well, before she also stopped reporting in." Another red dot vanished as the talk around the table grew much more concerned. Two Huntsmen and two villages being wiped out without anyone knowing why or how was a troubling trend. Mato didn't join in the chatter, his eyes fixed on the map in an unblinking stare.

"It's clear that, Grimm or not, there is a significant threat out there. We need to address it quickly before more lives are lost. Given what's happened, sending out a single Huntsman clearly is not a wise decision. Two, perhaps three Huntsmen will need to be sent."

"Then it is quite unfortunate that at present we are rather shorthanded." Bart said. Without the students around, it fell to the teachers and faculty to do the missions that would normally serve as training material. Even at this meeting, only half of Beacon's staff was in attendance with the rest away on assignments.

"Who were the guys you already sent?" Qrow asked as he leaned back in his chair. He was the only non-teacher present and though he had the sense to not have his flask out his voice was still more slurred than it ought to be this early in the day. "They were newbies, right?"

"Does it matter?" Glynda challenged, pretty sure she knew where he was going with this.

"It might." He leaned forward and poked a finger into the table for emphasis. "If we sent someone a little more experienced, maybe they won't just die right away."

'Someone' meaning him, Glynda thought as she frowned. The man was only happy when he was in the field and he'd been cooped up far too long for his liking. Ozpin was keeping him close in case there were any developments with Cinder, and Qrow was cunning enough to press his case in public where that couldn't be used as a reason to refuse him.

"Do we have confirmation that the missing Huntsmen are dead?" Peter asked, tabling the discussion for the moment. Ozpin, having taken a seat at the head of the table, shook his head.

"Without finding the bodies there's no way to know for sure." He took a sip of his coffee. "I don't think it's very likely they are still alive, though."

"Then sending any Huntsman alone would be folly." Peter said, folding his arms. "With so little information to go on, repeating that mistake would more than likely only get more of our number killed."

"I can go."

The words caused the entire table to turn and face Mato. "I beg your pardon?" Port asked.

Mato didn't look at him, his eyes still fixed on the map. "I said I can go, investigate this matter, and destroy this threat, whatever it is."

"That's not up to you." Qrow reminded him, his tone a warning.

"Who else would you send?" Mato asked while folding his arms and finally looking away from the map. "You're short on hands, so sending one person would be best. A key part of the mission is reconnaissance and I can cover more ground than any of you. And if it _is_ dangerous, well, I am the strongest person in this room."

"That remains to be seen." Qrow muttered darkly.

"There is quite a bit you still need to do to prepare for the upcoming semester." Glynda ignored Qrow and focused on Mato. "You don't have anything even remotely resembling a coherent course layout yet."

"All the more reason for me to go." Mato replied. "I've made some changes to my techniques recently. Do you really expect me to teach them to others before I test them in a real battle?" He gave Ozpin a pointed look. "This _is_ why I am here, after all."

Glynda frowned at his hidden meaning. It was true that Mato was expected to be the guardian that the Fall Maiden could no longer be and it was good that he was willing to abide by their request to keep that role a secret, but he would make a poor guardian if he would not follow orders and insisted on operating independently. "Even so," She began. "You do not simply get to decide what-"

"I apologize." Mato cut her off. "I misspoke earlier." Glynda turned her head in surprise as the young Saiyan stood. "I _will_ go. If you would like to send someone else that is your choice." He turned and headed for the door. "If there's nothing else, I'm told I have a lot of work to attend to." He exited without waiting for a response.

"Cocky little shit." Qrow muttered under his breath. Glynda sighed. Making unilateral declarations then leaving before anyone could tell him no was one of Qrow's favorite maneuvers in this sort of meeting. The older man likely would have been proud of the young Saiyan if they could ever agree on anything.

"Not to impugn on our new colleague's skills," Peach said into the awkward silence, "but I think additional personnel should be sent. If we are lacking in available hands, a full team of students can serve as a substitute for a single Huntsman."

"I agree." Ozpin nodded behind his coffee mug. His eyes flickered to Glynda. "Can you take a roster of what students are currently on campus?"

Glynda nodded. Though classes were over, there were always some students who would rather spend their months off staying at Beacon than returning home. There were bound to be at least a few full teams on hand and plenty of people around to form into some ad hoc teams if necessary. "I can. But I would advise against sending students to face an unknown threat like this."

"They'll be on reconnaissance only." Ozpin reassured her. The headmaster had been a little too loose with sending their students into danger for her liking at times, but he realized how perilous an unknown situation like this could pose. "If there's any fighting, I'm sure you can handle it."

He smirked at the look on her face. "With our young friend mobilizing, you now have an abundance of free time, do you not?"

* * *

As Ruby stepped outside, she made sure to close the door gently. Dad and Yang were probably asleep, but Ruby didn't want to risk waking them. They would no doubt ask why she couldn't sleep, which she didn't want to answer. Mainly because she wasn't sure herself.

Ever since the end of the semester Ruby had been feeling unsettled. Well, that wasn't quite true. The feeling had been lingering in the back of her mind ever since her first encounters with Roman Torchwick and his White Fang goons. But back then, the origin of any sense of unease was obvious. There were Bad Guys out there, ruthless and cruel people hiding in the shadows of the city who would hurt others while enacting their evil plans. And this fear, if you would call it that, was easily banished by the thought that Ruby and her teammates could and would stop them.

But now there were no threats left. Roman had been arrested, the White Fang soundly defeated at the breach. The shadowy puppetmaster pulling strings from behind the scenes had been exposed and subdued by the White Fang warrior Mato, after he betrayed her or she betrayed him, Ruby wasn't entirely sure. And according to Jaune Mato himself had been beaten to a pulp by some mystery man and taken away by Professor Ozpin. All the enemies had been accounted for, yet Ruby's dark mode remained. If anything, it had grown more prominent in her thoughts.

Why? Was it some intuition that the danger had not passed, just become more elusive? That mystery man and his fight with Mato proved there were things happening that she and her friends were unaware of. Then again, Mato was one of the bad guys and Jaune made it sound as if the mystery man had been trying to avoid hurting them while attacking him. So he probably wasn't a villain either.

This line of thought had led Ruby to a dark place before, a place she found herself returning to now. She had grown up on the stories of brave heroes vanquishing evil, be it Grimm or people. She had wanted to be one, an aspiration that went from slaying imaginary Grimm with a stick in her backyard to enrolling in the most prestigious Hunting academy in the world. It wouldn't be an understatement to call her dreams of righting wrongs and saving the day something her life had revolved around. And fate had provided for her.

It had seemed so neat, when Ruby looked back on it. Her clash with Roman Torchwick prompting her admission to Beacon, meeting Weiss and Blake and becoming the leader of their new team, being drawn into more fights with Torchwick as they slowly uncovered more of his schemes. It had all been setting the stage for the brave Team RWBY, led by the heroic Ruby Rose triumphing over the evil criminals and terrorists, saving the city. Saving the day.

Only, that hadn't happened. Their attempt at stopping Torchwick at Mountain Glenn had been a mixed success at best. Sure, they minimized the damage, but his attack on the city had still gone through and Torchwick himself had been apprehended by someone else entirely. The real villains, hidden in the shadows, had been exposed and brought down before Ruby even knew they existed. The elite, highly powerful enforcer had turned on his bosses and been himself defeated not long after. It was not a very fulfilling ending to the saga of Ruby the Heroine.

And that was what haunted her. Objectively, that outcome had been a pretty good one. Almost no one had gotten hurt and the villains were all locked up with no hope of escape. Could she have done better, even if she had known Cinder and her gang's identities and Mato's whereabouts? Probably not, Ruby had to admit. And that lead to the question that haunted her in the quiet hours of the night.

 _Am I upset because I wanted to save the day? Would I really put myself, my friends, and others in harm's way just so I could be the big heroine?_

It was not a pleasant thought. Ruby had never really stopped to consider the underlying morality of her aspirations before. Why would she, doing good and preventing evil was good by its very nature, wasn't it? But what if you were doing good for selfish reasons? Could you still call yourself a good person? Then again, since Ruby was aware of this and didn't like herself for it, didn't that mean she _was_ a good person deep down?

Ruby shivered from a gust of chilly night air. This was all above her head. She couldn't work through this tangled web of morality herself, and getting Yang or Dad to talk her through it would require confessing some things she didn't want to admit.

Her musings were interrupted by the chiming of her Scroll, like a siren in the silence. Ruby quickly answered, her haste keeping her from checking who was calling.

"Who is- Ren? What's going on- Wait, slow down, what's happened?"

As Ruby listened to Ren's uncharacteristically urgent words, she reflected that at least her unease turned out to not have been from her inner conflict after all.

* * *

Mato yawned as he stepped out into the morning sun. He had stayed up far longer than he had been expecting writing out his lesson plan. He hadn't had a need to write so much for a long time, but he knuckled down on it and now was the proud owner of a properly thick binder full of his handwritten work. Now all he had to do was hand this off and as luck would have it Goodwitch was making her way along the stone path from Beacon's central tower to the teacher's living quarters. Mato gently lifted off the ground and floated over to meet her.

"Here." He dropped the binder down to her once she was close enough. Goodwitch caught the binder and eyed it suspiciously.

"What's this?" She opened it and started to flip through it, her customary stoic expression shifting into a frown the more she saw.

"The lesson plan you've been nagging me to make for the past two weeks." Mato said, trying to keep from grinning. Goodwitch's frown deepened as she looked up at him.

"Mato," She began, her tone like she was speaking to someone incredibly dense. She lifted up the binder, open to a page covered in inhuman script. "I can't read a word of this."

The grin slipped out. "I can. And since I'm going to be the one teaching the class, that's all that really matters." He rose farther into the air. "This little errand shouldn't take long. I'll be back in a day or so." He blasted out of there before she could get another word out.

Mato adjusted his course so that he was flying in the direction of the village and zoned out as he made the trip. He knew he would probably pay for that little bit of cheek, but it was worth it. If he had written in English, it would have taken twice as long and Goodwitch would have realized straight away that roughly half of Mato's binder was about the proper application of agricultural techniques.

He _had_ done a proper lesson plan, but looking at the scant few pages it had taken Mato had been struck by a rather vivid impression of Goodwitch staring down at him in disapproval and asking if this was really all he had. It wasn't his fault humans needlessly complicated everything; Mato hadn't even tried to understand the lesson plan of Goodwitch's that she had shown him as an example. Mato's own plan was wonderfully simple. Here's how you utilize ki, here's how I'm going to tell them how to do it. No muss, no fuss.

The real problem that Mato faced was that thinking his hypothetical lessons through made it clear to him that attempting to teach ki manipulation to a large group was going to be ineffective. Without direct instruction, the humans were more liable to flail around hopelessly than they were to master themselves. But the nature of the human classes would make it difficult to provide one on one training to a student.

Mato turned the problem over in his head, but had yet to reach a satisfactory solution by the time he reached his destination. He hovered in the air, pondering his next move. He could swing by the village, but that would most likely just slow him down. He could also go check out the destroyed villages for clues, but the Hunters who had already been hadn't noticed anything. Mato went lower, almost skimming the treetops. He sniffed, looking for the all too familiar stench of Grimm.

He began to canvas the area, moving outward towards a nearby mountain smelling all the while. Aside from a false positive that turned out to be a Beowolf, there were no Grimm to be found. That left a couple of possibilities. Either the Grimm that committed the attacks had left the area, or the attacks weren't committed by a Grimm after all. Perhaps he _should_ pay the destroyed villages a visit, to see if there were any scent trails, Grimm or otherwise, that he could track. Or maybe he should swing by the village to ask if they knew anything.

Mato caught a whiff of the scent a second before the attack came.

For a saiyan, that was plenty of time. Mato twisted away from the striking claws, turned his spin into momentum, and delivered a kick to the back of the head of his attacker. The impact sent the Grimm slamming into the ground.

Instead of pressing the attack, which might have been wiser, Mato regarded his enemy. He'd never seen a Grimm like this before. It was the saiyan sized and the same shape, although its tail was a thicker one more akin to the tail of a large reptile than the slender saiyan tail. Aside from that, and the claws, this Grimm was effectively a human covered in black fur. It was the mask that really stood out. It was a plain white surface without any sort of features, not even eye or mouth holes. The only irregularity was a pair of minute slits, right where the nostrils would be on a normal face.

 _This is the destroyer of villages and slayer of Huntsmen?_ Mato asked himself. _A Grimm who's_ blind? _I guess this explains why no one was eaten, it doesn't even have a mouth._

Mato descended to the ground to face his foe. The Grimm 'eyed' him warily, backing away a step and raising its hands into a poor semblance of a combat stance. It seemed willing to wait for Mato to make the next move.

"So passive." Mato commented to himself, though his voice was loud enough that the Grimm could hear. Assuming it had ears, anyway. "Jumping a more powerful enemy is all well and good, but when you fail that enemy is going to crush you unless you have a backup plan. If you were going to rely on your own strength, you wouldn't be trying to sucker punch people."

It occurred to Mato that he was explaining proper combat procedure to a mindless animal. Its similarities to a sayianoid must be clouding his judgement, or else he slipped into 'teacher' mode easier than he thought he would. "You have no idea what I'm saying, do you?" The Grimm cocked its head, the universal gesture of confusion giving Mato second's pause. But only enough for him to offer a courtesy before attacking.

"My name is Mato. I'd ask yours, but even if you had one you couldn't tell me." The Grimm might have an answer for that. Mato would never know, as barely a second after the words were out of his mouth he darted forward and kicked it in the chest.

The Grimm recovered well from the sudden assault, whirling from the attack and sending a clawed hand towards Mato's face. But to the new and improved Mato, it was like the beast was moving in slow motion. He easily sidestepped the swipe and drove his palm up under the Grimm's chin, letting off a small blast of ki to send the creature flying back. He body flickered behind it and slammed it in the back of the head, driving it into the ground. He waited there, hovering, as the Grimm picked itself out of the crater.

So far, the monster was making for a good training partner. The revelations Mato had had regarding the nature of ki during his fight with the Kai had revitalized his growth as a fighter. The exact amounts of ki to suppress and to utilize during combat was an entirely new paradigm he wasn't used to yet. Suppress too little and you got no benefit from the exercise, suppress too much and you were far too vulnerable to any surprises.

From the training he had done alone, Mato had settled on a tentative half-and-half approach. That should keep his body strong enough to at least survive any unanticipated attacks, while providing him with plenty of spare power to make use of. But without testing it in actual combat, that would maddeningly remain only a should. Enter, this Grimm. Powerful enough to let Mato cut loose against it but not powerful enough to actually pose a threat to him. If anything, the Grimm was a little too weak.

As if responding to his thoughts, the Grimm rocketed off the ground faster than before and threw a punch stronger than its earlier attacks. Not fast enough to catch Mato off guard or strong enough that he couldn't easily deflect it, but it was progress. Progress Mato rewarded by slapping an open palm to its 'face' and sending a pulse of ki into it. The Grimm fell back onto the ground, it's mask smoking from the energy blast.

Mato flexed his fingers experimentally. Throttling his energy even when it was already 'on-site' was easier than he had expected. He'd assumed the output would be harder to- A sharp cracking noise caught his attention. He looked down at the Grimm on the ground. Cracks were slowly inching across its mask. The odd thing was, they weren't emanating from the center of where Mato had blasted it, but rather there were two patches of fissures roughly halfway up the Grimm's 'face'. In fact, they looked an awfully like…

The Grimm's hands covered its mask and its claws dug into the cracked areas. With a flick of its wrists, it dug them out in a single swift move, revealing burning orange eyes beneath the mask. It pulled itself off the ground and its head swiveled so that his eyes met Mato's.

Mato suddenly felt that he probably was going to regret not killing the monster when it was still blind.

* * *

AN: I think I got a little too meta there. Sorry Ruby, I know you were looking forward to a main character gig but it just didn't work out.


End file.
